Recorded 14 December 2021.
Jesse and John discuss the differing standards we hold people to depending on our relationship to them, focusing more on what drives us to try to maintain familial bonds even when they become toxic.
Outline:
The Reading:
Thoughts: Republican. Democrat. Independent. Christian. Atheist. Muslim. Jew. We use these words to identify with a philosophical view, a perspective, a belief about the world in which we reside. A way in which we make sense of the actions and events we watch unfold, believing they serve some greater purpose or framework in which the world makes sense. We fold these ideas into our identity; we become an embodiment of these principles in ways that we cannot always articulate or explain. We become labels in an effort to be understood.
An unfortunate result of accepting labels is the binary quantification such labels ascribe to our views. We become the stereotypical embodiment of the label instead of the nuanced existence of the individual. We are placed in the category of socialist, insurrectionist, American, Christian, fanatic. Take your pick.
I wholeheartedly believe in a better version of tomorrow. A day in which all people are treated with the basic dignity and respect that should be afforded any human being existing in this world. A day in which we proclaim humanity first, and ideology last. A day that seems so far out of reach that it perplexes even the most pessimistic of perspectives. A day that, at this point, seems destined to never exist.
Yet I still posit that the day will come that we awake from this recurring nightmare. That we eventually realize the only truth that can exist: that above all else we are human beings. That we all should be afforded the same basic rights of existence that the founding fathers envisioned in creating the framework from which we are afforded the luxury of questioning today’s shortcomings.
The United States of America was founded on the idea that all people, regardless of background, are created equal. We have not, unfortunately, lived up to that ideal in a variety of ways. Yet we are in an unique place where we are provided a clear and direct opportunity to make such a statement ring throughout the world, to set the example so to speak, that the formation of a society and its subsequent refinements are a core component of existence, a requisite framework for understanding and evolving the world in which we live.
I dare to dream of the day that we look upon one another with compassion and a desire for understanding. A day in which we recognize the basic existence of another human, not a label. A day of recognition. A day of peaceful coexistence.