As I pondered what I will address in this next blog, I thought about the political presentations I am now hearing on daily television as well as a trip I will be taking next year on a civil right's journey to Montgomery, Selma and Atlanta. I will be traveling with a group of people who are dedicated to the continuing elimination of prejudice in our world. Prejudice against Blacks. prejudice against Muslims. Prejudice against Brown people. Prejudice against the impoverished. Prejudice against Jews. Prejudice against sexual beliefs. Prejudice against various political parties. Prejudice..........................................
The idea that some of us are superior to others is often treated as humorous but it is not funny. There is nothing humorous about the ill-informed, bitter misperceptions about other people. When I have joined others in laughter about these issues, I have become aware that I have flirted with them in becoming detached from reality. Laughing about malicious viewpoints that are not humorous leaves a black hole in our consciousness. It is irrational and dangerous. When we make jokes about it, we are nurturing cancerous thoughts that reflect more than hatred...thoughts that characterize those of us who harbor these beliefs as ignorant bigots. My civil rights trip, then, is to combat the jokes and the slurs about all who are different from others. It is to improve myself and, as Hillel has said, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And it not new, when? Do join me in commitment to emotional and intellectual growth so that we can all emerge as stronger, realistic and more supportive of each other. Because this is who we really are.