Today's quotation:

We are all citizens of one world, we are all of one blood.  To hate people because they were born in another country, because they speak a different language, or because they take a different view on this subject or that, is a great folly.  Desist, I implore you, for we are all equally human. . . . Let us have but one end in view:  the welfare of humanity.

Johann Amos Comenius

Today's Meditation:

It gets very sad watching so many people causing so much division and hatred.  "We are all equally human."  That's the bottom line, isn't it?  If we are spirits in human bodies, then that black man, that Asian woman, that South American kid are all simply spirits having different human experiences, and facing anger and hatred and fear due to nothing more than the color of their skin and the shapes of their facial features.  It's really quite sad that so many human beings are willing to feel and exhibit prejudice towards other human beings for what are nothing but superficial differences.

I like the idea of embracing our differences, loving them, treasuring them, celebrating them.  We can get so much out of our differences, even if that so much consists of something simple like a wonderful dinner from someone who grew up cooking food in ways completely different from us.  When we celebrate our diversity, we celebrate life and living.

We've got to be working for the welfare of all humanity, not the welfare of only those who are like us.  We've got to be trying to make sure that everyone is taken care of and that everyone has the opportunities that others have.  But somehow, we're not able to do that on a societal level.  Somehow, when we're together in groups we tend to focus on exclusion rather than inclusion, and when we do that we add to the division in the world rather than the unity.

What will it take for us to be truly and unconditionally focused on the good of all, all the time?  What will it take for us to be blind to things like skin color, hair texture, languages spoken, accents, clothing, and all those other things that people of different cultural origins have different or do differently?  Whatever it takes, it will certainly be worth our while to pursue it and to make every effort to be loving to all.

For further thought:

When indeed shall we learn that we are all related one to the other, that we are all members of one body?  Until the spirit of love for our fellow people, regardless of race, color, or creed, shall fill the world, making real in our lives and our deeds the actuality of human brother- and sisterhood, until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other's welfare, social justice can never be attained.

Helen Keller

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