Versus

The human race is interesting... It seems we need enemies to keep us happy. I got to thinking about this last night and a few experiences came to mind.

As a kid, my parents always taught us that we were better than other people. More intelligent, more spiritual. In fact most of my siblings still take this teaching to heart, believing that somehow we were more important that those around us. My son does fairly well at school, and while relating some of his accomplishments to my parents, my mother made a comment about how hard it must be for him to be surrounded by incompetent morons. My son was in first grade. I stopped my mother right there and told her we would not be teaching that attitude to my son. She was offended. We've taught him that the only person he needs to beat out is himself. If he gets an F, but still learns and improves his life, I'll score it a win. Growing up, my family stood together because we were better than those around us.

I grew up in South Africa. From the time I was a kid, I was told that the native tribes were lower on the evolutionary scale. I still remember my mother pulling out a map and explaining how the tribes got less intelligent, the further south they were found. I was often yelled at for asking questions like, aren't we all the same and why the blacks couldn't vote. Even with my progressive thoughts and being further tempered by a few years in New Zealand, I still remember driving into a Zulu township, believing that I would be killed as soon as I did. And then I met a black college student pursuing a PhD. I grew to love the Zulu people, it is a nation which has achieved much, in spite of stiff opposition. White South Africans were able to stand together because they were more intelligent and better than the more numerous black tribes.

The US was attacked by Islamic extremists. We retaliated and then took it one step further and went after Iraq as well. Our country is being run by a war-mongering moron. People are starting to see this problem. However for the first couple of years, Americans stood together against the evil middle east because we were better than them.

I was raised a Mormon. I like many of the principles of the religion. Recently though I have been doing a lot of reading on the original founder and the state of the Church currently. There is little doubt in my mind that the founder received direction from a source which I would consider divine. He taught much truth in his early years. As time went on though the church he founded began to be more and more persecuted. The reason given is that it is God's only true Church, and hence the rest of the world, being guided by Satan wanted to destroy it. The more I have read about the early persecution of the members of this church, the more I am convinced they brought this on themselves. They were bound together because the world was against them. As God's chosen people they were better than those around them. Very little has changed. Mormons are still much better than those around them, and blessed because God has chosen them to belong to his only true Church. They stand together because they are better than the world around them, and are fighting a common enemy.

I could probably go on and on, as more examples come to mind, the more I write and look at the world around me.

I think we're all in this together. Our duty is to help one another and make the world a better place. I had a debate a while back with an English immigrant who shares different views from me on health care. Ultimately we both wanted to help those around us. Our approaches were different, but I think that with the same goal in mind we could probably have figured out a pretty good compromise. It's not that I was right and she was wrong, or vica versa (At least I hope not). It was just the approach which was different.

I am reminded of a quote that went something like this:

There is noting noble in being superior to anyone else. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self.

I am grateful to continually meet noble people. People who get it. I hope to someday be considered noble as well.