Let the Dawn Bring Understanding
I like to observe human behavior. One of the most glaring things that I’ve discovered is how easily people can get offended by someone else. We all know that racism is a thing. But it’s not just about skin color. Racism is simply believing that your race is superior to another. To be clear, there is only one race and that is the human race. So really, racism is the belief that your ethnicity is superior to others. But now, take skin color and culture out of the equation and people can still have the belief that they are superior to others. So what is really the problem?
G.K. Chesterton once answered a question posed in a newspaper. They asked, ‘What’s Wrong with the World?’ Chester wrote back with the answer, “I am.”
Romans 5:12 says, “So then, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, in the same way, death spread to all men because all sinned.” The Bible shows us that we are all sinners and that we will all continue to act with sin. It’s our nature.
So what is the problem with us that causes the belief that we are superior to others? The simple answer is selfishness. The more detailed answer is ignorance. The Messiah said this in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 7:12 “So in all things, do to others what you would want them to do to you—for this is the Torah and the Prophets.” Our nature is geared toward selfishness. Yeshua (Jesus) said to treat others as we want to be treated. In other words, selfishness has got to go.
Selfishness is the root of the problem, but it is manifested because of ignorance. There are several quotes to this notion. Here are just a few.
“Science is the father of knowledge, but opinion breeds ignorance.” – Hippocrates
“Fear always springs from ignorance.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Misunderstanding arising from ignorance breeds fear, and fear remains the greatest enemy of peace.” – Lester B. Pearson
“Ignorance breeds fear and hatred.” – Kristen Cast
If Ignorance is the problem, then how do we get rid of it? Ignorance is defined as the lack of knowledge, so the answer is simply to learn more. Gain more knowledge.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said, “It’s a universal law intolerance is the first sign of an inadequate education. An ill-educated person behaves with arrogant impatience, whereas truly profound education breeds humility.”
It’s kind of hard to hate someone when you are humble. Solzhenitsyn is saying that education is the answer. Most people tend to shy from something because they don’t understand it. Then they begin to fear what they don’t understand, which can lead to hate. If we just took the time to learn about what we don’t understand, we may find that we can humble ourselves to understand someone else’s life.
Getting back to the realization that people are easily offended today, I believe it is because we all “know” things and don’t acknowledge the fact that there is so much more that we can learn. I blame social media for this. We all have a profile for people to see, but for the ones who only know us on social media, we can be mostly anonymous and act in ways that we wouldn’t if we were face to face. Most people on social media are speaking from their knowledge without thinking that the conversation could something that they could learn from. We’re a fast-paced culture and don’t have the time to really get to know someone or even listen to what they are saying. We, therefore, only have the time to tell others what we know. Our knowledge is important for them to know, but not vice versa. We remain ignorant of what they are saying because we are not listening. And that ignorance can lead to hatred.
The reason I started this blog was because of the tagline that defines it. “We’re all in a stage of learning.” We don’t know everything. And my motto since leaving high school is still, “Never Stop Learning!” The more you learn, the more you’ll understand. And the more you understand, the more humble you will become toward others. That doesn’t mean we won’t still have disagreements, but the goal is to walk away agreeing to disagree rather than to hate the other person because they don’t agree with you.
We are looking through a dark glass. We only know in part. There is still so much to learn. Let the dawn bring understanding. Never stop learning.
