Seeing Differently

"Hello darkness, my old friend

I've come to talk with you again

Because a vision softly creeping

Left its seeds while I was sleeping

And the vision that was planted in my brain

Still remains

Within the sound of silence. "

- The Sound of Silence, Simon and Garfunkel

I don't remember a year like 2016 where it seems that so many fears and anxieties were on display either in the public eye or behind the closed doors of my personal relationships. As you go through the laundry list of last year's atrocities and issues, it seems that as a society, we still struggle with the fundamental issues that have always plagued mankind. There seems to be no positive growth for every step forward means twenty backwards. The fires of things like racism, hatred, mistrust, warfare, brutality, and inhumanity still remain with us like a pile of steaming garbage that we wish someone else would take responsibility for, yet no one steps forward. The stench only gets worse as the pile grows larger and larger.

How is it that we still fall into the same old pitfalls of stereotyping? Haven't we learned the painful lessons associated with acts of violence? Don't those who refuse to take heed of history find themselves doomed to repeat it? So, then why are we not able to learn from mistakes that mankind has made over the ages? It seems as if we are stuck in a cycle of stupidity and anger.

I found an interesting article in The Atlantic about racism and hatred, and I would like to focus on how The author, Robert Wright described one aspect of this type of thinking: "Evolution seems to have inclined us to readily define whole groups of people as the enemy, after which we can find their suffering, even death, very easy to countenance and even facilitate." So, if this is true, then we continue to down the same path of labeling. So, then the painful cries of the refugee fleeing Syria, the displaced in Haiti, and the suffering of those in our own country all too often fall on deaf ears because of how we view them. True, we don't see all of them as the enemy, but do we dare to see the value in their lives? Have misconceptions and assumptions clouded the way that we view them? Hatred and indifference in these instances live in close quarters. We may not see all of them as the enemy, but do we assign the same value as we do for people more like us?

It seems that we live in a day and age dominated by thoughts of "us vs. them." How often did this theme play out in the latest presidential election? How about when we scream at each other about Blue lives or Black lives or All lives mattering the most? We have a difficult time getting past the labels that we have created for others. The danger of assumptions is that we begin to see other people as something that they are not. We don't see the Imago Dei (the image of God) in them, and the fruit of that is worldwide suffering.

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ -Matthew 25:40

In the Genesis account of history, mankind was created in God's image. In the same way that if you looked at my sons, you would see traces of my wife, myself, and our family traits, the hand-print of the Father is stamped on each and everyone of us. It becomes very difficult to scream at someone of a differing political viewpoint if we see this level of value in them even as we disagree with their stance. It causes us to chose a different course of action when the fundamental and driving belief is that everyone carries value. If we are able to shatter stereotypes, then and only then can we really see others as what they are, beautiful in the eyes of their creator just like you.

" It's very simple. If you have fear and anxiety and you talk to them as a friend, then those fears and anxieties are minimized and could even disappear. If you see them as an enemy, then you go into a state of denial and you try to get as far away as possible from them." -Henri Nouwen

I know that many were thrilled to declare that 2016 and all of its angst had ended. However, if we are honest, we know that 2017 won't be devoid of suffering. We will still face heartache, feel fear as we watch the news, and may even have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Turning the pages of our calendar won't erase the possibility of those things, and it is naive to say otherwise. However, we have a choice to make in the matter and it is of the utmost importance. We need to decide how we are going to see those around us. When we attach value to others, then we will follow through with the command to care for the least of these, whether they are refugees, widows, the down trodden, the forgotten, the sick, the mentally ill, or those that suffer in any form. If we look for the image of God in everyone, then we will see the world differently.

"The only true voyage of discovery, the only fountain of Eternal Youth, would be not to visit strange lands but to possess other eyes, to behold the universe through the eyes of another, of a hundred others, to behold the hundred universes that each of them beholds, that each of them is." -Marcel Proust