Reflection
No one ever said living the gospel was meant to be easy. It is comfortable to avoid seeing the human persons trapped in unjust systems, suffering without personal cause, and simply trying to survive. It is easier to adopt the common refrain and begrudge them their human needs. It is easier to distrust others because are different from ourselves. It is so easy to generalize and group people when you have never met them. It is easier to accept scapegoats over reality. Politicians and pundits of all kinds project blame to their own advantage. The acts of some are applied to the whole. Stereotypes abound. It is often only a personal contact, a common experience of injustice, a loved one caught in a similar situation that will break through and rouse our active compassion allowing our common humanity to meet and build new understanding.
Prayer
May I grow in understanding and have a compassionate heart.
Action
Examine your own attitudes toward some of the stereotypes and demonization of groups of people because of their religion, race, gender choices, immigrant status, economic need etc. Try to separate facts from prevailing generalizations and fictions. Be open to meeting people different from yourself.
Suggested Reading
If we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?
1 John 4:20
Therefore, having laid aside falsehood, each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
Ephesians 4:25
Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
Matthew 25:40
We cannot remain spectators before the suffering of so many people who are worn out by hunger, violence, and injustice. What does ignoring the suffering of others mean? It means ignoring God!
Pope Francis
Let’s practice motivation and love, not discrimination and hate.
Zendaya
All I can say is I am sensitive to discrimination on any basis because I have experienced that upset.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
It is often easier to become outraged by injustice half a world away than by oppression and discrimination half a block from home.
Carl T. Rowan
A stereotype may be negative or positive, but even positive stereotypes present two problems: They are cliches, and they present a human being as far simpler and uniform than any human being actually is.
Nancy Kress
Once you label me you negate me.
Søren Kierkegaard
People are too complicated to have simple labels.
Philip Pullman
It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.
Audre Lorde
Tolerance, inter-cultural dialogue and respect for diversity are more essential than ever in a world where peoples are becoming more and more closely interconnected.
Kofi Annan
Our life changes the moment we choose love over hate.
Avijeet Das
Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves.
U Thant