The Story of geer...
I believe we do need geer in order to live peaceful lives and to care about other human beings. It is that simple. I am not so jaded that I do not believe that every breathing soul has a story with multiple chapters and that those stories are formed, shaped and inscribed into us by the humans we come in contact with as well as the events we experience throughout our lives. geer is needed for us to make us aware of how we treat and think of other people sharing this planet. If the inhumanity and hatefulness that we witness every day continues, it will be the end of a society we once knew. History shows and tells us the facts of how societies evolved and were thrown into ruin. Based on solid facts, as I see them, we are pretty darn close to free fall if not already in it. I can't say whether folks missed the wake up call, threw out the alarm or are just too busy trying to get through a day at a time to not notice our society's decline. I see it ultimately as our responsibility, up to each and every one of us to ask ourselves to do our part to stop this wretched sickness of hate and intolerance against people we view as different. We are all people, just plain people. The selfish behaviors some are modeling for our children are only adding fuel to the bonfire at the end of the free fall. If you think kids don't see, realize and observe, just watch the actions and words of many adults paying for seats in any stadium acting like they have left their brains in their pillows and see some of the children mimicking what they witness... I know we as humans can do better than this.
Early on I was drawn to watching folks...in grocery stores, bus stops, airports, restaurants, beaches and anywhere my feet happened to be. I was particularly interested in the faces and the hands of people and wondered what their stories were. Are they visitors? What do they do for work? My wondering always takes me to thinking about their dreams and hopes. For some folks I imagine their dream got dragged away like a rolling surf while for others the dream gathered strength and survived.
Emotionally healthy humans all want the same thing, this I believe. Peace, safety, equal opportunity, respect, employment, food, shelter, fair treatment is what every human being deserves and has the right to have. So I ask myself why then is our world so deeply skewed, so tilted and so violently intolerant towards people who want and deserve the same things? Towards people we judge to be different from ourselves? Do we not notice this? Can we not see this and do we even care that this is the picture our present day society projects to our kids and the world?
Why? I find myself looking at the human condition. We have the ability to feel and show compassion, hope, mercy, understanding, sympathy, tenderness, inclusion, care, love, and patience but we also have the abilities to scold, punish, hate, be jealous and exclude. These are all human emotions. We all have some moral dichotomy. No one is infallible, there is no human perfection, so let that insufferable striving for it go. It does not exist but that does not give us the excuse to accept and not try to be better humans. The closest we get to witness perfection is in nature and guess what...the human condition has interfered and greatly jeopardized that. Mother Nature is better than we are. She adapts, changes and wraps her planet with climate, all imaginable kinds of weather and marches on despite her negligent occupants doubts that she is struggling.
Humans from far and near all want the same thing, you can't convince me that they don't. Who does not want better lives for themselves and those they love? We want it for ourselves but it's not okay for others? What is this really about? Our world is filled with good solid caring people, this is a fact. We also know there are some humans who only care about themselves, once again we see the human condition flashing its worst traits. Not all people but some people. This is why we should never ever label and lump people into any category , there are no ALL people folks! ...the only thing we know for an absolute fact is that all human beings on this earth eat, drink and breathe to live. No labeling please! Labels work on spices, canned goods and maple syrup, never to classify people. We hear and see derogatory labels spoken and shouted with the intent to hurt and harm other humans. This is not okay...not okay to do, to see, hear or to model to another living person, adult or child, yet we find our society turning a cheek... We all know the slanderous words, I need not write them here... We are all valuable human beings worthy of being treated as such. Not labeled as a thing or thrown into a category. It is past time for us to engage our geer, check our intellect, empathy and feelings in order to change any previously held views of others. This is growth, learning, a good thing to do... otherwise we will remain stuck where we are thinking the way we do about other humans all wanting the same things. If the views in this country remain where they seem to be right now, the already deeply divided trench that we have sunk into will deepen.
My thoughts lead me sadly to believe that much of humanity will most likely never be able to value others or even see value in others who they think are different from themselves because of so many variables and circumstances that we all have lived through and experienced. Those beliefs and thoughts get formed and sometimes clouded and this is part of why I doubt equality will ever be realized in our human race. With that sobering thought I do believe emphatically, that it will always be necessary and vitally important for the survival of the human race to continue to strive, fight, preach, reach and teach towards equality for all. To march and resist has been a way since the beginning of time for humans on earth to make others aware that things are not okay. It is but one way people have been able to voice discontent with how others are being treated. It thankfully continues because lives depend on people saying no to hatred, bigotry and violence. My life as a teacher fostered my need to try, to not give up on anyone and this was totally reinforced with my work in adaptive education. I have experienced success and failure but would not have continued to learn without either and my blog musings often reflect that hope. If one reader somewhere, at some time, will think a bit differently or ask themselves why after reading one of my essays or stories on my blog then my time putting my thoughts out there is worth it. I know the power of education. If an individual has the chance to see, feel, touch, observe, meet and listen to people different from themselves they begin to actually geer up, to realize they own their intellect and empathy and maybe will see their just people, just like themselves. I have witnessed this over and over again. It is what keeps me trying. I truly believe that speck that I call geer is a very real tool for us to use but it will not happen, it will lay rusted and dormant on the workbench unless we first become aware that it is available for us to hold, mold and broaden our views with. geer happens when you, me and we question why and that asking why happens only when you, me and we answer some deeply difficult questions about strongly held beliefs.
I was first introduced to my geer in high school but was unaware at the time. I was just a kid trying to figure out things. I was fortunate and met young people from other countries who spoke different languages, dressed unlike me and encouraged me to try their foods from home. When I went to college my awareness of folks different from me climbed to new heights. The diversity of people I was sharing life with and encountering became a treasure that I later realized was one of my best collegiate learning experiences. Many of my preconceived notions and assumptions began to fade into forgotten shadows. College by its standards encourages us to seek and ask but the gift of opportunity to meet people who I perceived to be different from me was life changing.
Education and learning are two components of life that remain priceless. Almost all of us have some experience with schooling of some type and at some level and is probably the reason it gives so many folks license to think they know all they need to make decisions about how schools should be run and what should be taught...just an observation that I have made. Learning is interpreted by me as experiences we get living life via reading, listening, attempting, experiencing, witnessing, asking and seeking. I have seen what happens when we open our minds and hearts to the excitement of learning...it is a winding road that has no end and a key component of learning is being able to read about new things, do and taste new things. Not too many decades ago lobster was known as "poor peoples food"...have you checked the price of lobster today and whose table it sits on? Change happens.
Growing up in a city in Maine in the 1950’s and 60’s made me a Mainer. I spoke with the familiar accent and even after a quarter of a century in the southeast I still sound and am known as a Mainer and proud of it. Living in Maine I heard English and French and was pretty much surrounded in a monochromatic society. Limited travel away from New England sheltered me from the sweeping divergent mass of humanity I shared the globe with. I fell in love with reading, particularly biographical books and was taken into the world of migrating people via magazines and television. I watched as many documentaries as I could find and really began to view all fellow humans as people, just like me. They looked different from me, I often did not understand their language and truthfully found some of their traditions quite unusual but I saw them as people, just people. I began to see them as valuable walking stories all pretty much looking for the same things that I was. This is when Social Justice really entered my life. To this day I believe that if Social Justice were to rule the land we humans could safely disagree, sharing opinions and thoughts without it seemingly devaluing each other.
I will always believe that people deserve to be welcome to our country. I am in favor of reasonable, timely and fair avenues of citizenship and do believe that we as people and a country can be seen for our inclusion versus exclusion. We need to take ownership of our individual power and commit to the work that is being done by so many to turn the ugly unwelcoming wave that is flooding our nation. I do not suffer fools gladly when I hear people say " but what can I do, I am only one". All change begins with the concern of a single person caring enough to use their voice and energy to empower others to see the same vision...this is how democracy was born and it takes work to keep it alive. Voting is our obligation, it is the least we can do but definitely not all we can do. The work I am referring to is to ask ourselves why so many folks continue to see fellow humans, not just as people, but view them as threats. Why when we see and hear this hatefulness everywhere do we remain silent bystanders? Do we just not care? Do we condone it? Are we afraid? It is work to question ourselves about anything, it takes time and effort to look ourselves in the eye but even more effort to be honest with ourselves. Is our view of others shadowed because we fear those who we don't know, who look or speak differently than we do? Knowledge is the greatest destroyer of fear. We can challenge our fears, even overcome them by questioning ourselves why. If fear isn't the issue then I am led to believe it is ignorance that causes us to feel and think the way we do about those we perceive to be unlike ourselves. I actually know, with certainty, that when we read, learn, greet, meet, and get to converse with people we don't know we always walk away learning something about them. I frequented a fast food diner in to get my daily ice tea watching people as usual and simply noticed a Hispanic woman wiping a table top near me and I simply said " thank you, muchas gracias" to her. She nodded and smiled. A gentleman sitting with a couple male buddies overheard what I said and proceeded to walk up to me, smiled and said " gracias" and then in English he said " That was very kind of you to say to her" and I said thank you and that I was trying to learn a little Spanish. He proceeded to take a few minutes to teach me a couple short useful Spanish phrases, shook my hand and returned to his buddies. The employee whom I had thanked watched our brief encounter. Upon returning for my usual morning beverage the next day, the woman I had spoken to the previous day spotted me and immediately brought me a cup of ice tea, greeted me in English and I greeted her in Spanish asking her about her family. Over the next four years our encounters in that fast food place continued with her teaching me a bit more of her language and things about her life until ...ICE came to town, did their hateful sweep and I never saw her again. When I questioned management they told me that they had lost many good workers, some that had been with them for years, even had green cards and that their entire families had been torn apart. How is this ever seen as acceptable behavior? Punishment of people for wanting to better their lives and their families is still being used today and is often couched in lies in an attempt to calm their own conscience. It sickens and saddens me and I will never condone this behavior anywhere against any person or persons. It cannot rationally even be explained, yet it occurs. To know this and to remain silent is a sin against humanity. We only need to be willing to voice it in our circles and assist others to voice it in their circles, this is how things begin to get turned around, how social change happens. Fear is an emotion and intolerance is a trait both I believe are two extremely limiting harmful elements we as humans harbor. They shroud our lives in layers of doubt like a dense coastal fog and it spreads to others. With a bit of willingness and some factual knowledge the fog can rise, new visions can be seen and hope in humanity can continue but it won't happen unless we figure out the why. Someone somewhere stated that a goal without action is just a wish. People need to put the brakes on the wishes and hit the gas on the action. That little speck I call geer reminds us that we have a tool if we want to be a better human, we just need to honestly answer why we wouldn't.
Why do some of us exclude people? Is it a lack of trust? Where did we first begin to learn trust and when did we begin to lose it?... Did we start excluding people before we even realized that we were doing that...did we do it because a parent told us to...because a preacher said so...because a headline flashed it... a friend said not to... our golf club does it... it's a company practice...our local sheriff believes it... Exclusion is everywhere. Systemic exclusion happens all the time...too fat, too old, too tall, too young, too weak, too poor and on it goes. Many cultures around the world include all their people because they were taught how to live inclusive lives without knowing they were because it was woven into their culture and as much a part of their lives as the world of sports is to our country's culture. It is out of awareness for them because they have been shown that every single breathing person is valuable, not only to their small circle but to their entire society. Many years ago I had a reckoning with my trust issues...it took time to learn to own them but once I did I figured out why I made some of the choices I had made. It opened doors that I had let stay closed and opened windows I had never seen. I understood about being cautious without being exclusionary. Our trust in government and institutions, at every level, have been greatly eroded and for verifiable reasons, but we need not undermine the trust we have in the humanity of people. Not trusting a college football field goal kicker to win the game is one thing, not trusting and believing that climate change is real is quite another but not trusting ourselves to be confident enough to question things and know facts from fiction is absolutely no way to be interacting with others in this world. The pace of living now, more than ever before clutters our minds, leaves us with wanting hearts and overwhelming frustrations. What are we as a society becoming? What are we showing and leaving our children, grands and great grands with? We are witnessing the complete erosion of trust that other nations once held in our country and because of that we will stand alone in the time of crisis. It is the domino effect folks...when it gets to the point we don't trust each other, when our circles become so small...we end up talking to a mirror. I believe and think humans can do and act much better towards each other because it is never too late to overcome fear or ignorance. It's never too late to jolt our intellect and embrace our empathy and I believe it's never too late to check our geer... but here is the rub…we have to care enough to do the work, one by one, little by little to change our old strongly held beliefs of fiction in order to start being better humans to each other.
AWARENESS...
Where do we even begin? We do so much every day without really being aware that we are doing it. It's called out of awareness. For instance, we seldom leave the roof over our heads without checking for wallets, purses, keys, and phones. We do this automatically, we check our gear. It is doubtful we would go camping, hiking, traveling, skiing, biking, running, etc. without checking our gear. We would not read, study, bake or cook without having our gear. When we first began doing all these life things we had to learn, had to ask ourselves what we needed, we had to become aware of what gear we would need to get on with whatever endeavor we would be doing, this is called becoming aware. Our bodies tell us when we want food, when we need sleep, it makes us aware and if we do not respond to that awareness we sometimes act like we haven't had our coffee fix for a week. I own the belief that awakening, what I call geer can work the same way in broadening our views of how we see and interact with people in our world. It can become "out of awareness".
I would never describe myself as a "Trekie", I was more a Jetson geek but I sure enjoyed the cinematic world of movies and cartoons. Decades have passed and a few of the futuristic events we saw have emerged into our world. Robots fill factories without needing coffee and lunch breaks and space suits are being worn by anyone ready to part with their millions. The universe our little planet revolves in has intrigued me from my first recollection of staring into a starry sky as a young child and reaching adulthood only enhanced it and increased my amazement and intrigue. Talk about trust... the trust, not to mention the courage it takes to board a space ship bound for borders beyond our space belt, to explore and walk on the moon, relying only on the integrity of microchips made in another country and the depth of someone's math skills is beyond any level of trust I can imagine. I believe what the astrophysicists are telling us is that there is something out there, there are signs and signals in the universe, possibly in the Kuiper belt, that we are not alone. How audacious of us to think we are the end all and be all of beings. They most probably do not look like us, may not need oxygen or food to exist and are probably more intelligent than we are. Theories and extensive research are leaning in that direction but at this time there is no factual data, no foreign space craft has landed and no actual being has shown up. I use this as an example of how we have been taught to believe that anything living in outer space, call it alien if you like, is coming to earth to harm us in some way. We do not know this, there are no facts here, it's all fiction, but we think it because we have seen movies, posters, magazines, games and whatever that have portrayed it and we earthlings are portrayed circling these beings and saucers with machine guns! The only movie I can think of that left a possible open mind for us was when ET hit the screen and was simply trying to get back home. My point being made is that we seem to fall for and believe, because others projected it without fact, that alien foreigners would be bad, would be coming to hurt us and take over our planet...none of it is true or factual and at this point in time is all fiction. We don't know. We feel this will happen and think about it because that is how it is presented to us. We don't want them here because they are different and we fear what is different because we don't know so we don't like them and hold no trust that they may be just exploring their universe like we are. The human condition raises it's ugly head as there are people in power and in this country that refer to immigrants as aliens and it is said not as a compliment therefore an absolutely condescending and disrespectful hateful thing to say and is not okay.
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❤️❤️ thought provoking! Your writing skills never cease to amaze me.
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