The adage, usually attributed to
our indigenous brothers, was actually written by Mary Lathrop in the 1870’s
because of her contact with various tribes during her ministry
“Walk a mile in his moccasins”
is meant to instill temperance in our understanding of those we may disagree
with or whom we simply don’t understand.
Often putting ourselves in the circumstance of others, will result in a
position of trust rather than one of fear.
In today’s climate, of separation and divisiveness, we have allowed our
society to be on the verge of social cannibalization. Rather than seek commonality we tend to
magnify that which we reject and fear.
Long before Ms. Lathrops poem reached its final stanza, some 1800 years
had passed since Christ first instructed us, through his parables: “Let he,
who is without sin cast the first stone cast the first stone” and Judge not
lest ye be judged.”
Seems to elicit the boundaries of
common sense, you would think, but not so fast Pilgrim (in keeping with the moccasin
suggestion). We apparently feel more
normal when we have opponents.
We would do better, as individuals
and as a herd, if we understood each other better. To accomplish understanding we need to listen
rather than speak. You might even ask
yourself to recall how many times you experienced and felt the dismissive rejection
of being ignored. As adults it’s to easy
to recall the feelings of being told, as a child, to be quiet because you were
unable to contribute anything in reality.
Fortunately, some of us escape that syndrome and actually attempt to
bring us together into a unified effort to move toward a common good. Christ again supports the moccasin adage with
his commandment to “love your neighbor as you love yourself”. That also
creates a problem because many of us use other people’s perceptions to measure
our own self-worth. It really doesn’t
take too many sour opinions, of how your moccasins have made you appear to others,
for the seeds of doubt about yourself to grow.
(This is not all bad because it has allowed many, in the profession of psychiatry
and counseling, to feed themselves and their family.) So all of the above can
be capsulated into, I don’t really like or trust me so much so I probably don’t
like and trust you so much. I can
justify that because you, don’t act, or look, or think, or dress, like anyone I
am familiar with. Mix that with all the
outside influence, of what other folks have said about you, our relationship
will be adversarial.
The fact of the matter is that judging
by hearsay leads to what may be false beliefs fueled by gossip rather than
truth. That fact holds true for
relationships with others and with ourselves.
There is a lot to be said in favor
of pragmatic thought going into the decisions that influence our lives. It’s kind of like the difference between
walking on solid ice or on the water that made the ice possible.
Once we understand that our
moccasins have taken us, (me), on a path filled with a multitude of different experiences
and that path has led me to now, we are closer to understanding the other moccasins
resident.
Understanding the path, we
ourselves followed doesn’t imply that we will like ourselves any better but it
gives us the opportunity to accept ourselves where we are in the now and remain
the same or allows us to understand and change those things that will enhance
that acceptance.
So what advantage is there in walking
a mile in the other guys moccasins? It
gives us a closer to fact basis about him, (or her), for our basic fight,
flight, or freeze form of action. We as
individuals need to be prudent and use intelligence when choosing our course of
agreement with others. There are times
when things are not as they seem no matter how much we would like them to
be. It is our own individual
responsibility to practice discernment in our search for agreement.
PRAY
UNCEASINGLY ON ALL THINGS AND LISTEN FOR GODS RESPONSE, HIS VOICE MAY COME AS A
WHISPER
No comments:
Post a Comment