“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”
― Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Someone posted a picture on Facebook today that got me thinking. It was a typical bit of opinion that is loosely based on fact and on the surface might even sound reasonable, but ultimately is really a thoughtless bit of propaganda. This particular one really kind of stuck a thorn in my side, because it is a kind of sentiment we hear all to often, and it shows a very nasty side of humanity. I have encountered similar statements from US citizens, as well as from several other supposedly people oriented countries. My answer to this was along the lines of: I would rather my country be one that welcomes strangers and gives them a chance then one that automatically treats them as an enemy and abuses or kills them. Which country would YOU rather live in?
That is what it ultimately comes down to. We are quick to criticize the policies of our country, yet not so quick to offer realistic and humane solutions. The whole concept of nation basically turns humanity into US versus THEM.
We have all seen how effective this kind of thinking has been for the world.
Why is it we let the hate mongers and the closed-minded do our thinking for us? The truth of the matter is government are made of people, and people make mistakes. It is actually very common for programs designed to help the small fry to got too far. Whether because those who push them along have their own agendas, or from simple over exuberance. Civil rights became reverse racism. Freedom of speech became the right to say anything we want about anybody and no privacy whatsoever. The right to bear arms became the right to be individual killing machines.
Only tyrants and power-hungry want closed borders. Only those that think in terms of US and THEM want strong walls. Democracy, by its very definition, is about people. Nowhere does the definition specify a unique group of people, just people in general. If someone is hungry and shows up at your door, will you deny them food? If someone seeks to learn from you, or work for you, will you turn them away simply because some words on a piece of paper say they do not deserve it? Do you really want to shoot someone who chooses your own land over theirs; someone who is willing to change their whole life to get to a new place and start over because they believe it is a better world? Or you would rather put them in some sort of forced labor camp instead. What would that say about you? Or about a nation that upholds such policies? Sadly too many people do think this way, but I for one know that is no place I would want to live.
I understand the intent of the above post,which is to point out that we should not be offering our guests MORE than we offer own family, as many democratic countries seem to do these days. But instead of saying it in such a hateful way, and simply accusing those in power of being idiots, how about offering another perspective? How about providing alternate solutions that might be more widely acceptable then just condemning another’s ideas, based on hater’s ways of thinking? Stop complaining about other people’s ideas, even if they may be mistakes, and start offering solutions of your own. Especially in a democratic society. While there is much corruption and self-serving in our governments, not all will turn a deaf ear to legitimate ideas.
But personally, I don’t find “Shoot all the strangers” a very legitimate idea.
