Othering Kills

Please note this essay was written 300 days after October 7th and now hundreds more days have passed.

Othering kills.

I've never seen this more clearly than over the past 300 days. 300 days! 300 days of bearing witness to dehumanization of others - leading to mass land theft and destruction, massive imprisonment and hostage taking, massive bodily harm, traumatization, and the targeted and indiscriminate killing of a people. I've watched as the world has watched from a "safe" distance and done little or nothing. "Thoughts and prayers" to literally signing messages on bombs to kill children and families huddled in their homes, in schools, in hospitals, in tents, in cars, and open spaces.

I've seen the lust for land, power, money. I've seen the profiteering from surveillance, war, and policing industries. I've seen homes, olive trees, farms, water tanks destroyed. I've witnessed an entire population plead to the world for the right to live, the right to have a home, the right to travel, the right to govern themselves, the right to care for one another, the right to make a living, the right to have an education, the right to play sports, the right to have their voices and stories heard.

I've seen the world use trope after trope. I've seen white supremacy at play, in addition to nationalism, xenophobia, land desecration, millionaires and billionaires padding their portfolios, politicians giving their influence, voice, and power to the highest bidder.

I've seen the "most moral" act the most abominably.

I've wept. I've gone numb. I've frozen. I've felt isolated. I've felt powerless. I've felt hopeless.

But I've also seen the power of love sustain people through these horrors. I've seen generosity and resilience. I've seen people come together. I've seen people override their very valid fears - honoring their shared humanity, inspite of the risks. I've seen them choose kinship. I've seen bravery. I've seen compassion.

I've seen that things are worse than I ever imagined and a foundational portion of my worldview shattered. I've seen daily the violence that my government enacts on people, by prioritizing bomb manufacturing and detonation over healthcare and housing for all.

I, too, who already knew that othering kills - whether from lack of inclusion, to bullying, to ostracizing, to isolating, to assault, to murder - have had to find my place in this.

I see more easily now why my country, and even religious leaders, will use the phrase "killing it" as a term of praise. I see the violence enacted against those waking up from the slumber of consumerism, isolation, keeping up with the Joneses', perfectionism, and productivity as a measure of value.

The truth is none of us is better than the other. We are all made in the image of God. Some of us, just hide it more than others. We are hurt people hurting others, using our righteous indignation to harm others.

I panic frequently wondering what to do to stop the bloodshed.

I am again and again surprised and overwhelmed at the energy of evil to carry out its way. I see how institutions violate people and stay in the way of progressive care for our shared humanity.

I remember how Jesus wept and cried out "forgive them, they know not what they do." I know violence has always been with us, but I didn't know it was so close. I hadn't seen my tax dollars so clearly violate the well-being of another. Some will say I was naive and ignorant and I was. But I'm waking up. Others will other me with the trope "woke," as if caring for others is something to be fought and legislated against.

I, too, like the Palestinians long for land to call my own, to cherish, to nourish, to laugh and cry on. Life is already hard enough without humans inflicting harm on one another.

I wish my country didn't priorities the "rights" of corporations - aka the wealthy to buy up homes across the country, making it impossible for me a middle-aged doctor unable to buy my own home.

The joy and delight of harming others while you profit just because you can is related to the struggle of the Palestinians. This lust for more, requires dehumanization. We see this in slumlords and corporately owned homes and apartments across the U.S.

Why can't we ask for feedback from others and incorporate it. These landowners wouldn't feel so great about their bottom lines then.

What is this unhealth that leads to this insatiable desire for more? That needs wars - wars whose purpose is to destroy under the guise of safety and protection, or God's design - to continue so that stockholders and CEOs can continue to ensure profits are always up and to the right?

What is wrong with the American willing to sell their soul, give their time, energy, and focus to companies that harm and exploit others so they can have the house, the electric car, the vacation, the padded portfolio, the designer clothes, meals at the fanciest restaurants, and travel the world? Then once they are so depleted, they leave with their plunder and decide to by a second home in the country and have a hobby farm, or go on yoga and wellness retreats.

Othering doesn't kill just them. It kills you. It kills us. It's doing it right now.

Waking up comes in big and small ways - compassion for ourselves and others. We have to be still enough to sit with our frenetic energy, to strip off layers of hurt, harm, and wrong. We have to chip away at the masks to let the light shine through. We need to be less automatic. We need to let the suffering of others in. We need to see the beauty of a leaf and a butterfly. We need to feel the pain and joy of generosity. We need to know the satisfaction of hard work for the benefit of others.

We need to live our values - values to build the future on - values to last millenia. As Wendell Berry says, we need to "plant sequoias." As John Lewis said, we need to “start good trouble." As Jesus said, we are the "light of the world;" we have some work to do to let that light shine.

Questions for Contemplation:

• What does "othering" mean to you?

• What are ways you other?

• How do you notice our actions impacting one another - positively and negatively?

• How can we change values of isolation, accumulation, and killing?

May you always see the blessing, beloveds.

-esb

P.S. - Thanks for being here. I’d love to hear how you’re doing!

P.P.S. - The art and information in these emails is my copyright, unless otherwise indicated/credited.

P.P.P.S. - I wrote a song about waking up and I’m sharing it publicly little by little. This is hosted on my Becoming Divergent YouTube channel: