Why? We persist in calling each other derogatory names: Dagos, Wops, Polacks, Slant eyes, Wetbacks, Faggots. We treat those others amongst us with derision or scorn when they speak a different language, or carry out different customs. We treat those who have different religious beliefs than ours with derision and scorn. We think that those who have a different color are for that reason, inferior in some or many ways. We look with disgust at fat people. A person who excels at one category of endeavor but not at others is labeled as a freak. Those in our groups who have disfiguring diseases are shunned. Animals are tortured and killed for sport. The capacity for human unkindness toward other humans and other life seems endless.
And it gets even worse. We carry grudges for centuries, passing hatred on to our children, and our grand children. Christian crusaders, back in the twelfth century, when they finally reached “their” Holy City, massacred all Jews and Muslims who inhabited that town, believing that no other human had the right to occupy the beginning site of their religion. In 1948, Jewish Zionists invaded Palestine, killing and destroying on their way to Jerusalem, in order to reclaim “their” central city. When German missionaries came to Rwanda in the late nineteenth century, they found the native Hutu more receptive to their mission than the Tutsis. As the German colonial government gradually took control of the country, they favored the Hutus, giving them land and other possessions which they took away from Tutsis. The Tutsi did not take kindly to this usurpation of power they had held for centuries. Resentment and hatred simmered between the two groups, as they vied for political control. This centuries old feud finally boiled over in the late twentieth century, Tutsis killed Hutus and Hutus killed Tutsis, leading to group massacres. An estimated one million men women and children were murdered, perhaps 20 percent of the population. More recently, Irish Catholics and Protestants have traded bombs, purportedly because those others had the wrong faith, but probably mostly for political control. Jews and Palestinians continue to bomb and kill each other. Afghans and Iraqis of different faiths persist in murdering each other. Why?
Perhaps in one way, this long term human cruelty and hatred does make sense. Each of us, although we may not carry this concept in the top of our heads, realizes that we are in a fight for survival. Each of understands, somewhat intuitively, that we will survive best if we recruit others to our cause who have similar interests, so that we can collectively defend ourselves against outer threats. Each isolated clan, group, sect or society would not have survived unless they had collectively worked together not only in food production and the nurturing of children, but also in protecting themselves against foreign invaders. We don’t realize as clearly as we should, but intuitively appreciate, that all other life cares more about their own lives than any one of them does about our lives. For all of us, it is indeed a fight for survival. And if we perceive that some other life form is an imminent threat to our survival, we intuitively develop hatred toward them, and the belief that we must form a preemptive strike against them in order to protect our lives. Up to now, perhaps there has been a reason why humans, vying for political power, have resorted to disdain and murder to support their own existence.
The problem is, the paradigm has shifted. We are no longer one sect, one religion, one group, one society, one nation fighting for survival. We are one species fighting for survival. We are so stupid. We don’t see that humans now cover the face of this little planet globe. We don’t see that whatever any of us does in any part of this globe affects all others on all other parts of the globe. We don’t see that the fourth revolution in human communication and accumulation of knowledge has occurred in a dramatic fashion. First there was oral language. Then, there was written language. Then, there was the printing press. Now, there is the world-wide web, an amazing entity which allows each of us to have full communication minute to minute with someone on the other side of the earth. We are not isolated. We are all tied together. We all have only one home, this planet. If we destroy or pollute our resources, we do so at the peril of all of us. If we treat other humans with disdain and murder, we are only killing ourselves.
This respect must also extend to all of life, not just humans, for this species to survive. “The circle of life” is not just a cute little song. All life gets eaten by other forms of life. It all fits together. If we treat other species with disdain and murder, we are only killing ourselves. It is now time that we, as a species, must realize that we must learn to live in harmony with all other life, and in harmony with our universe, in order to survive much longer. The universe is not there to help us. It does not care. It is up to us to treat all others with respect, in order to protect our survival as a species.