FEARING OTHERS

 

What if we all had the same color of skin?

 

Who would you hate then?

 

What if we all had the same religion?

 

What if we all had the same warmth in winter, cool in summer?

 

Who would we fight then?

 

What if we eliminated the industries of war, destroyed all guns and other weapons?

 

Would we kill each other with rocks and clubs?

 

What if our jobs all paid the same and my stainless-steel appliances were no newer than yours? What if our furniture was exactly the same, our lawns just as nicely tended, our cars the same year and model?

 

Would you still resent me then?

 

What if we were all born with the same color of hair, the same color of eyes, grew to the same height, the same musculature?

 

Would you still be jealous because my nose was slightly longer? Or my lips slightly fuller? Would you still pay for surgery to make your nose and lips more like mine?

 

What if we sat side by side through all twelve grades and received the same education and yet somehow I went to college and became a lawyer while you went to trade school and became a plumber? Would you call me a libtard and resent my career? Would I look down on you as you installed my new toilet?

 

Will we always find something to resent, something to be jealous of, something to fight about?

 

Will it always be our nature to fear the Other, even if their Otherness is only a birthmark, a broken tooth, a different hairstyle?

 

How does the skin color, the religion, the material wealth of Others make us fearful?

 

How do we make all Others into Ours?

 

(You can read more of Denele’s writings at www.denelecampbell.com)