As Shabbat approaches, I give pause to reflect the state of world affairs and how it affects those I love and perhaps even those I dont love but with whom I share this planet and co-exist. In doing so, it is clear to me that the world is increasingly marginalizing and fractionalizing rather than pulling together for peace and harmony. At times I feel lost in the sea of contradictory voices even within my own community where people think their nuanced disagreements establish them as individuals resulting in a better outcome than forging together as a unified front. It is clear to me that there is a place for individuality, but there also is a place for being part of a unified community and there is a special place among the righteous for sharing a unified view even with people with whom you dont always agree and that is a step that many are not willing to take. Folks have adopted the its my way or the highway, rules of engagement. As the world becomes increasingly diverse, there are more and more variations of perspectives on just about everything which cause friction, consternation and adjustment. Social media gives everyone an individual voice with the understanding that if you put something in writing it must be true and the final word. People talk at each other and no longer with each other. There are no longer debates, just take it or leave it word dumps which flare into unfriending, blocks and reports of abuse to social media providers. We must do better. We need to reach out and touch, communicate and share feelings, understand the other as well as ourselves or we will be blocking everyone but those who agree with us (or who dont have the energy or desire to respond.) We are moving towards a very difficult time in our world where if we dont communicate and share better, we will be overpowered by highly oppressive folks using low tech communications who have formed a united front against the freedom to be individuals we all now enjoy. Our vulnerability is that we no longer communicate with one another, we communicate at each other which makes for ripe pickins by our enemies. Please, this Shabbat and moving forward, try to understand and respect others and communicate that to them and perhaps we can build better understandings, one conversation, one post, one person at a time. Shabbat shalom
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 15:17:37 +0000
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