Alone or reconciled

We open the door, walk out of it, then turn around and come back in.

If that’s our every day scenario, we wouldn’t go far.

People are meant to “bump” into each other, like it or not.

Tensions arise, conflicts abound but also progress achieved

Only the lonely that can afford prejudice: the Others are not welcome.

OK. Then subdue the Earth by yourself.

Western demography dictates all: there ain’t enough of children to cover it all, not even with the help of John Deere’s machines.

Japan, Korea have known this, and used robots to help. Other less developed nations are into telemedicine.

But here in the US, rural areas are trapped in 20th-century thinking: a church steeple for every town, and Homo Unit Principle still abound.

If the Others don’t talk and walk like we do, they are out, or their (worship) service is allotted to after-hour.

Separation of Church and church.

From there, the thinking goes like this: stick to your own kind, and grow your home, your church, your social life. But the twain shall never meet.

We find that church grows faster when it’s within one’s ethnic group per HUP. Yet “white” churches are sold off to ethnic religious groups, in this case, newly arrived immigrants (homo-genious unit, again). I have seen Buddhist congregations taking over old and abandoned church properties in the North East region, or Hispanic Buddhists in Houston. But then again, they are running into the same quagmire: society at large gravitates toward demographic and ethnic separation and groupings, limiting one’s universe and pool of potential candidates. Whichever group maintains higher birthrates wins (Vermont is hurting for residents. So is Maine).

What are some takeaways?

• the spiritual world is not of this world
• social theories are just theory – in practice, it is much more elusive and optional: people may come together but cannot be forced internally
• individuals are different, but people as a group behaved predictably
• lump people together as stereotype shows how well-educated and thoughtful you are
• killing one person gets you in jail. Murdering innocent people, “stereotype” them as a group might play trick with your mind i.e. your group might hail you as a hero, but that won’t get you off in this life or the next (because you start playing God, when God’s term in office is not yet over)
• those who married across racial lines are brave and their happiness depends on their sacrifices and skills at finessing many social obligations in their respective groups.
• churches cannot condemn hate crimes because they themselves are guilty of similar practices as expounded in Homo-genius Unit Principle (hence the deafening silence).

I have seen geo-demographic shrinking of the white rural poor, like Bristol, KY. Jobs are there anymore. Malls closed. Factories closed. Houses abandoned. Opioid addiction abound. Recipes for disaster. It only takes a match to ignite hate and violence. Blame it on the Others, the machine and the drug companies. All it takes is for someone to incite and stoke the flame of hate. Try a day without the Mexicans for instance. Better or worse off?

We can always give it a try. Or we can always look in the mirrors. Who is it to be blamed or what “principle” is to be challenged, altered or adopted. Why aren’t we doing farm work on farm land as we used to do? Who didn’t stay with whom, or making life such a living hell that young people had to flee!

To live is to make mistakes. Open the door, walk through it and close it behind you. The outer world is much larger than your thought universe. You may bump into people of different walk of life. And you may have to re-adjust your perception, preference and prejudice. In other words, adjust yourself because “objects in the mirror might be closer than it appeared”.