Sometimes I do have an inkling of what to write about, though invariably, an idea or two will be revealed that wasn’t anticipated. That’s fun too, because I am as much a listener to these thoughts as I am their progenitor. Writing simply puts me in the doubly privileged position of hearing them first and getting credit for sharing them with you.
As I sat down to write what will have become this essay, a number of thoughts danced and dangled across my consciousness. One idea that sifted through was how important it is that we change our methods in how we “fight” for causes. I refer to instances where we identify an external opponent, which could be a person, place, thing, condition, situation, or idea, and villainize it, sometimes acting as though it is evil incarnate.
Once an opponent has become a villain in our mind, we can self-righteously give ourselves permission to make it or the people who symbolize it targets of our own negative thoughts or energies. Depending on our perspective, these people could be Republicans (if you’re a Democrat), liberals (if you’re conservative), white (if you’re black), and so on. We also convince ourselves that the villain must change, confess its sins and pay us homage, if not be eradicated altogether, and not us. However, this approach can put us in the fast lane on the expressway to frustration, or worse, meaninglessness. There are two major reasons for this.
The first reason is in the externalizing and socializing of a situation or condition into a problem and elevating it into a cause. Fighting racism is one example.
“Wait a minute!” I can already hear you saying, “Isn’t racism a serious problem?!” Not waiting for an answer, you go on to declare, “Hell, racism definitely is a serious problem in America!”
Of course it is. But I’m standing firm on this point.
Racism is an idea: a concept that is not really reality-based, for there aren’t really any discrete races of human beings that warrant the kind of gross differentiation that we often tend to marinate in. Our major differences are volitional and habitual, not hard-wired. They are cultural and behavioral, not genetic. Science has tried, but has been unable to come to any hard line truths regarding a multiplicity of human race species while studying the genetic makeup of human DNA. Why do we continue to think, speak, and act as though there are many races when the growing preponderance of evidence indicates that there is but one?
Ego and elitism are the real culprits behind what we call racism, expressed by individuals in all human shapes, sizes and backgrounds. To attach race to instances of egotistic, elitist, ignorant, boorish, hateful, maniacal or evil behavior clouds the issue, needlessly and wrongly casting aspersions on entire groups of people, for whom the apparent “truth” does not really apply.
Racism’s strength comes from people who angrily believe that it is the problem (opponent) that has to be eliminated, more than they are willing to see and transform the egotistic and elitist proclivities that live within themselves. The former will never happen for an individual unless the latter happens within said individual first.
Individuals who are hypersensitive to “differential” race dynamics and politics often look for, and therefore see racism everywhere; in others, in experiential situations, and in history, then passionately demand retribution, remuneration, and even reparations. They argue that recompense is justified due to events that they claim many people have been affected by, though they may not have been involved personally.
Who amongst us today were slaves in 19th Century America? Who amongst us were slave owners or slave traders? By spending precious time and energy trying to squeeze blood from turnips long dead, what profound opportunities and possibilities of today are we letting pass by because we do not see them, and have a pronounced “chip” on our shoulders against others who do?
There have indeed been repercussions to slavery and to racism: negative ones to be sure. But resonating with the tone of the negative effects doesn’t create a positive one. Instead, it will be an exercise in futility to concern one’s self with various racial groups “catching up” with, or achieving parity with others. This is one of the subtle traps of what I sometimes call, ism-ism. Racism is only one example of the syndrome. Each individual naturally has the power to create a life of his or her choosing. This is not generally understood, yet when we examine individual attitudes, choices, behaviors, and resultant experiences, ample evidence can be found to support it. Positive, harmonious realities and lives come from being positive and harmonious while creating no harm, beginning with one’s self.
Whether one’s particular “ism” is race, gender, or something else, retribution seeking is like trying to fight a heavyweight bout with a ghost: a big ghost. Try as we might to deliver a knockout punch, we would instead connect with air. The ghost would be unaffected, and continue to goad, taunt and haunt us, scoring points on our mind and fears as we focus on it while the world, and the opportunities of today passes us by.
The energy that we expend while punching, but never hitting anything is truly gone without any real progress being made. Oftentimes people who call this particular mindset “home” resort to punching and hitting, sometimes shooting and killing each other. The anger that they feel inside -- over the injustices and inequities that transpired, and the ongoing frustrations of continuing struggle -- remains inside. The belief that they can’t “overcome,” lives.
Another thing that remains intact is the status quo, appearing to be real. Indeed, it will be reality for some people. Their sphere of opportunities will not have expanded because they will not have spent that precious time and energy enriching themselves in some way, through some combination of acquiring new knowledge and skills, and by nurturing positive, constructive relationships with like-motivated others.
If we do not consciously seek to expand our personal spheres of positive, life-enhancing opportunities, then on the whole, our opportunities will shrink. The Information Age is rife with unprecedented opportunities that, if we recognize them and acquire relevant knowledge and skills, can help us change the quality and nature of our lives. If we stubbornly and angrily “fight the good fight” to redress the past, we risk “biting the good dust” of the future. Others, who initially may not even speak “our language” but definitely believe in the American Dream and have seized available opportunities, will pass us by on the socioeconomic ladder. This doesn’t make them better or worse than we are. But the ability to earn money is important in our world today. The inability to do so is synonymous with struggle, which would further inflame the ego, leading to more rounds of blame. While life will always have its “ups” and downs, today we have much less reason to have life’s struggle be chronic than ever before in history. Yet, we are free to blame someone else if our life turns out that way.
Blaming social problems that we see on race and racism alone needlessly and wrongly casts aspersions on the entire group of like looking or speaking people. It assumes unanimity on issues that few will all agree on.
Another word crossed my mind as this stream of ideas began to take form was miracle. Unlike racism, the word miracle carries no negative baggage. A miracle is cause for wonderment and awe. It is an event or experience that opens our minds and hearts to more. But we’ve become so jaded I’d speculate that, outside of the birth of a child, many readers believe they have never seen a miracle. I’d assert that miracles happen all the time, all around us, and to us.
As an example, the process by which we inhale air, extracting oxygen and other gaseous nutrients from the atmosphere and exhaling carbon dioxide, is pretty miraculous to me. Equally miraculous is the symbiotic process by which plants and trees “inhale” carbon dioxide from the atmosphere “exhaling” oxygen that is so critical to our physical survival.
Do you think that my example is only science and not miraculous? Okay, if you must. However, such a response would be an example of being jaded, in my opinion. There are some pretty amazing things going on all around us that support the ongoing, evolutionary and transformational miracle that is physical life on earth. We, meaning humanity, are on center stage in a Grand Play. Yet, we tend to see ourselves as insignificant, disparate, bickering, mortal “peas” in a solar orbiting “pod.”
When I was a small child, I recall one miracle that never ceased to amaze me was watching someone ride a two-wheeled bicycle. How this was done was beyond my comprehension. Why did they not fall over? I almost flipped the first time I saw someone riding a motorcycle! After all, in areas of Chicago where I grew up in the mid- to late 1950’s, I didn’t see motorcycles that often. But I did see people riding bicycles.
A cousin of mine, Donald, had a beautiful J.C. Higgins two-wheeler, with twin headlights, chrome fenders, and whitewall tires. It was he who showed me that what I thought was miraculous, was in actuality, not a big deal. Once I got over my own fear of falling over and was ready to learn how to ride, I soon learned to keep my balance while pedaling, and enjoying the experience immensely.
Suppose I had made up my mind that an Abraham would never be able to ride a bike, or that people who do know how to ride bikes, but were not willing to give me theirs, or buy one for me, were evil “Abrahamists.” It’s an absurd notion, but one could go there if they were so inclined, and could convince enough people to agree with them. Fortunately, no one did.
Earlier I suggested that cousin Donald taught me that riding a bicycle wasn’t a miracle, but I’d like to reconsider that. The real message here is that he helped me see that with the proper belief, attitude, practice, and skill, I could experience the miracle of balanced, gravity-defying riding for myself. The very same qualities are necessary in order to change our realities today. No one can change it for us. And, if everyone else changes -- if our particular ism is eradicated from the face of the earth except in our own heart and mind, then it will continue to torment us, like the countless ghosts of positive opportunities passed… and benefits missed.
Instead of seeing that which needs to change or be changed as a villain, we must begin to become heroes in our own eyes, by not only aspiring to higher principles, goals, and levels of achievement, but taking responsibility for the holes we have dug for ourselves. For only then will we begin to empower ourselves to build the right steps needed for liberation from limitation, fear, and self-loathing. This is done in part by aligning with others on the basis of principle and possibility rather than on the politics of race, culture, or even political affiliation, and then doing something meaningful.
What a great idea!
Before preparing to write, I have any of a number of experiences. Oftentimes I have no idea of what will actually flow from my mind. That’s okay because after doing this for many years, I know that when all is said and done, the message will most likely be substantive, meaningful, thought provoking, and perhaps, inspiring. It is nonetheless daunting to sit at my computer before a blank “page” in my word processing program -- our latter-day “electronic sheet of paper” -- and proceed to “bang out” a message worth remembering with my “electronic pen” of a keyboard.
You can also download the ebook version of "Villainy, Ego and the Status Quo Allowing the ‘Miracle’ of Change." (Requires Microsoft eBook Reader -- a free download).
Adam Abraham is author of A Freed Man: An Emancipation Proclamation (ISBN 0-9700209-0-2) and I Am My Body, NOT! (ISBN 0-9700209-1-0) Copyright © 2001 Adam Abraham All rights reserved.
Also by Adam E. Abraham:
When the Reality of Race Oneness Sets In
Favoring Meaning Over 'Ease'
It’s Not the ‘Ism’ Anymore
Calling for More Good Change
Putting the Spirit of ‘Us vs. Them’ to Rest
Notes from a ‘Political Expatriate’
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©2001 all rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part prohibited without
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