Debate is a word we use to describe what might be considered a "higher" form of argument. It is a forum where opposing ideas are expressed without escalating the opposition to conflict, or worse, warfare. It is not only good to debate ideas; it is a means by which people on each side of a given idea can gain an opportunity to examine the efficacy and integrity of their particular position. Whether they do that or not is another question, but the opportunity is availed.

The debate that surrounds the politics of race and the question of the nature of one’s identity is ongoing. It also continues to miss the point. The fact that we are inclined to debate such fundamental questions relating to how we define, justify and sometimes defend our existence on earth boggles the mind. Yet, in terms of social discourse, this describes the rule, rather than the exception. Accepting that we are human beings, who are imbued with special talents, gifts, and abilities not found in any other life form on the planet, and being done with it, is not sexy enough for enough people for them to get on with creating the real fun of life… yet.

We come into this world knowing absolutely nothing, and from “first slap,” we are essentially given the message that it’s a cruel, hostile, and barbaric place that we have entered, that our souls are stigmatized, and have an enormous debt of homage to pay to an unseen, incredibly powerful, but apparently insecure deity. Furthermore, we’re told that we are powerless to do anything about it, but cope.

At a very early age, in certain cultures around the world, sections of boys’ penises are clipped off. In some cultures, young girls’ clitorises are removed. Children are forced to work in factories (in countries where factories exist) and fields. Women are told they must shroud themselves, lest their radiance drive the men of their culture mad. The penalty for harboring and expressing a thought that might embarrass a male member of their family could mean paying for it with the woman’s life. These are examples of what is for many people, “the status quo.”

There are the sometimes centuries old cultural and ethnic conflicts that children are told they must keep alive. Animus and hatred against other groups of people, with whom they are sometimes related, are inculcated into their heads. Is there any wonder that the past is oftentimes repeated? It is, when the hatred and fear that went into its creation is kept alive today. This too, is the status quo.

Children do not enter the world hating or being wary of others: quite the opposite. They must, of necessity, be trusting, for we come into this world virtually unconscious and totally dependent. This must be the first rule of experiential law until we learn the ropes of physical life on earth, and have the physical ability to make a life, and build relationships of our own choosing, by our own rules.

By the time we are ready to make a life for ourselves, we will have adopted various beliefs, biases, prejudices, hopes and fears about ourselves, about life, and about the people we share experiences on the planet with. By this time, we are so certain that we are “white,” “black,” “yellow,” “red,” “bi-racial,” etc., that questioning the concept is thought to be silly, if not outright ludicrous.

We have no doubt that “____ism” either exists, or may really be a myth that has been perpetuated by “_____” people. We may very likely believe that a “_____” man or woman will never get an “equal” opportunity to get ahead. There will always be real events in our experience that we can point to, to support these particular “truths.”

Because they may be operating under a set of beliefs, mindsets and attitudes that allow achievement hopes to be only modest at best, many children, adolescents, and young adults will not place great value on education. They grow into parents who likewise have a misplaced sense of value. These parents become primary role models -- demonstrators of human behavioral protocols -- to their children.

Because parental abuse and/or abandonment will be the only known reality for many children even in peace time, some will place even less value on building healthy, transcendental relationships with others, or on taking advantage of hard won educational opportunities available to them. Seeing little value in their selves, they tend to demonstrate little regard for that which might be valued in others. Graffiti, gang identification and the glorification of gansterism, vandalism, and drug use and trafficking are all outgrowths of this sentiment. Yet, we continue to debate what “race” someone is.

While this scenario does not describe every child, or every human being, it is far too typical. Today, without really knowing it, we go off into life with ourselves as the biggest obstacle to our own happiness and success. There are genuine problems to be faced everywhere, in every life. There is nothing “wrong” with that. As we come to realize and accept that we do indeed have the power to control our own behavior, and to change the quality our relationships, we can transform the fabric and texture of our experience.

Instead, we tend to embroil ourselves in debates as to which “species” of human beings we are, and whether our group is “above” or “below” another species on an imagined hierarchal ladder, with God, Allah, etc. at the “top” and who knows who at the “bottom.”

With all due respect to subscribers of such belief systems, the true battle that we wage in life is not between good and evil, but between awareness and unawareness, between change and the status quo, choosing power or powerlessness, between determination and resignation, between transformation and spiritual stagnation. This is not an issue of religion, but of humanity. It includes us all, whether we believe in one deity or many, or none at all. We, as human beings, have the power to change the nature of our lives. We can change our personal experience, and in so doing, our collective reality.

If they elected to do so, the people of the many nations in Africa that we often see starving and killing each other, or walking around in loincloths, could collectively turn that resource rich continent into a veritable Garden of Eden. Working cooperatively with each other and with people of other nations, they could create new sources of finance; build new modes of transportation and industry, new and exciting forms of architecture. Instead, they cling to the coattails and animus of history, and the “momentum” of the status quo.

The above statement reflects the way of life in other parts of the world, including Palestine and Israel, the Balkans and Northern Ireland, Russia, China and other parts of the Far East and America. So-called Third World countries are not that way because the people are unable to change. Too many have elected to hold tight to the memory of a time of perceived glory, taking them out of the consciousness streams of the present. Fearing the loss of that which was of greatest value to them has compromised their ability to create viable value for themselves in the world today. In truth, the best of what their cultures had to offer would never die even if their way of life did change.

With all due respect to history, we are not doomed to repeating it, nor do we have to steep ourselves in its pain in order to become free. Yet, these fundamental ideas only gain a real basis when we see ourselves having the power to affect them.

If I am a “_______” man, and I have grown up being told over and over again that I will not get a fair opportunity in the country I live in simply because I am “_______,” then my chances of succeeding in achieving my life’s vision, goal or mission will be diminished. Why? By way of my beliefs and actions I create experiences and relationships that will reflect them. Our “outer” life is but a reflection of our inner self. As we transform our inner self, raising consciousness of our true, natural birthright, our resulting outer experience will change, in time, too. As we expand the wonderful possibilities that we allow for ourselves, making them more wonderful and joyful, we give them life. Some readers will scoff at these flowery observations and pronouncements, which will only kill such possibilities for them. Limited options: such is the nature and fate of closed minds.

Today I sing the praises of electing to be human, even in a “racial” world. Let people be as “black,” “white,” and every other flavor of racial they want to be. First and foremost, I am electing to be human. With respect to creating our reality, the kind of life we want to live, and the kind of relationships we want to enjoy, being human puts me on an even plane with every other human being. The choices that I subsequently make are my responsibility.

Being with “one’s own kind” involves connecting with people of like mind, heart, motive and vision. These are internal issues and not subject to external classification, including race or culture. They determine whether new innovations are made, wonderful experiences are created, or whether pain and sorrow remain the rule, rather than the exception in our lives.

We have to learn how to live better as individuals before we can live better together as communities. Shifting the human debate from “if” positive change can be achieved to how we can do it together would help us take quantum leaps in our evolutionary story on this emerald planet, for the story of humanity on Earth is a single epic.

May our children learn to understand that they can. They can change the injustices of the past, the crime of the present, and the apathy of the future. They can match existing standards of achievement, and they can raise the bar. The moment we personally realize and accept the truth in these words is the day that our lives shall begin to change. It will come ever closer when we discover, at whatever age it happens, that we can do better, and then elect to do so.

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