Darwin did not say the world only worked by survival of the fittest individual. He tossed around many ideas. He and other scientists of his era bandied about the idea of survival of the fittest group as well. The fittest group is where people watch out for one another and has a much better chance of long lasting success.
The group in question is not the white group, or the rich group, or the heterosexual group, but the Human Being group. The only way to survive life on the planet is to come together as Human Beings. It’s us against adversity, us against illness, us against crises and weather and hard times.
The only way to survive is together. Besides, who are you going to leave out? The bum who won’t get a job? That is a made up person in your mind. Would you leave out people of color because they are taking your job? If you really knew people, and the needs of different communities around the country, you would know it’s way more complicated than that.
The problem with these stories is they are simple sound bites that can‘t possibly cover the complexities. In your own life you are likely aware of exceptions to these rules, maybe immigrant families you know that feel like they shouldn’t have to leave, but those other people, the ones I don’t know, they have to go.
When an issue comes close to you, you see the ins and outs and are able to take a broader view. Take Dick Cheney for example, he was against LGBT rights until his daughter came out as a lesbian. Once he had experience with these circumstances, he came to be compassionate about the needs and wants of that community.
A global “We” is created by sometimes one, or several, or hundreds of open-minded conversations with a group where you do not have experience. It could be city folk who need to understand small town issues such as farming or losing ones livelihood to the shutting down of a whole industry such as logging or mining or country folk who need to understand the city issues such as homelessness and affordable housing.
An open-minded inquiry in to the lives of others is not hard to do. You probably know someone that fits the bill but have not asked in order to not create trouble. It’s time to get over avoiding political, religious and other taboo topics and get to know each other. The key is keeping calm. Breathe deeply and be positive. Walk away and come back if you need to but stay with it.
Tell me how it goes….