It is not every day that you have an opportunity to see how your mind works. I was given that gift a few weeks ago. I got a new perspective on “them.” You know: THEM. Those folk on the other side of the political spectrum, or in that different socio economic group, foreigners, or whatever “other” category currently preoccupies you. I often say to myself, “What is wrong with them?" I once even thought I understood the real problem.
https://carlscheider.blogspot.com/2021/04/finally-i-understand-what-is-wrong-with.html
We were attending Mass at St. Joseph’s in Hayward Wisconsin on a Saturday evening. The homily was given by the deacon - an elderly gentleman. He spoke about caring for our neighbors, and focused on the needs of the elderly in our community. I looked around the congregation and we were mostly older folk.
I was thinking about these fellow Christians all around me, and I had a sense of sorrow about them. I was sorry that they have such a narrow view of our Christian religion. Most Catholics and Christians have this personal sense of their relationship with the deity. They are living good lives, focused on earning the reward in the next life. I am a bit more progressive. I have been in parts of the world where the “social gospel” or “liberation gospel” prevails. I personally believe that the message of the carpenter from Nazareth was not about starting a new religion, but about changing the world. He was focused on the poor, the orphan, the outcast. I believe that this is the key message of Christianity and that if we could get it into the hearts and minds of a few more people, we can change the world.
https://carlscheider.blogspot.com/2019/04/jesus-before-christianity-by-albert.html
The planet has about 1.2 billion Catholics, and about 1.4 billion Christians. If we could persuade a small minority of them to adopt this progressive view of their religion - what a force for change that would be. But I realize that this is virtually impossible. I would never set about doing that. I am pretty sure I could not change the belief of a single one of them by talking with them. So I am feeling some form of sorrow about that. As I thought about that, I realized that although I disagree with these folk in a major way about their beliefs, I don’t think there is anything wrong with them. I treat them with love and care because I WAS one of them. I know exactly how that type of Christianity feels, how comfortable and secure it is. I was 100% committed to that. I became a priest based on that belief and feeling. I actually love these people and wish them well, even though we would seriously disagree about some fundamental values. And I know I could never change them by talking with them.
Then it occurred to me that there is another crowd of humans on the “right.” For them, I actually think there is something wrong with their brains. I think they are crazy. They seem bent on destroying our current form of government, and wreaking chaos on the world economy, terrorizing my friends and neighbors. It dawned on me that they likely see my view of our world as just as crazy as I see theirs. Their history, their feelings, their values are tied up in their view just as mine are.
They are not crazy. They are just normal folk, with a different life experience than mine. I know a few of them fairly well, and they treat me with care and compassion. We just disagree about, well, everything. When we were visiting Africa, I discovered people in East Africa feel that they are NOT in charge of their lives. Things happen TO them. They do not take steps to change life events - they just experience them. I could not understand how it was possible that they did not think that they were in charge of life. In the U.S. Virtually everyone thinks we can literally change the world. Get rid of a government. Move the minds and hearts of a few million people. Just let me at it. The East African world view is that life is something that happens to us. They are not choosing it - it is just happening to them. That is still hard for me to believe, but I know it is true.
I wrote a bit about that a long time ago - you can find that and the stories here:
https://carlscheider.blogspot.com/2011/01/culture-and-developing-nations.html
So . . . treat them with care and respect. Talk with them, help them. But “do not talk politics.” Do not “argue” political or social values with them. Those are not topics for emotional discourse.
More recently, our social scientists and neurologists have discovered that there are ways to bridge this gap, and there are ways to move society forward - without logical arguments. It has to do with mutual respect, building a bridge, acting together on something outside this realm, and “organzing.” More on that later. I will be back with some insights.
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