Grievously Savage Race or Growing Pains?
Image from “A Small Light” by National Geographic
A Small Light
Last week I decided to watch “A Small Light,” - a show based on the work of Miep Gies during WWII and the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam. Gies played a critical role in hiding the Frank family (and 4 other people) for two years before they were discovered and sent to concentration camps.
This show may seem like an odd selection, given I was already depressed and sick with a cold, but watching people struggle with issues much bigger than mine can be strangely liberating. Traveling with the characters through their immense challenges, my “problems” seemed increasingly manageable.
The first season of “A Small Light” inevitably ends with a cliffhanger. There are positive indicators that the war’s end is in sight when Miep is suddenly surprised to be held at gunpoint in the office building where the “Secret Annex” (hiding place) is.
I had to read up on the history of the Holocaust and the fate of Anne Frank and her family.
Of the eight people hiding in the Secret Annex, only one survived the brutal concentration camps. That person was Otto Frank, Anne’s father.
Otto returned to Amsterdam, and Miep handed him the diary Anne had written while hiding. He published it as a book two years later, and that is how we have the famous eyewitness account of Anne Frank.
A Grievously Savage Race
While contemplating the stories of Anne, Miep, and the horror of the Holocaust, a Star Trek: The Next Generation character has repeatedly come to mind.
His name is “Q,” and he is a highly evolved alien who the voyagers of the Starship Enterprise encounter repeatedly. Even though the Enterprise’s crew members live in the year 2364 and have evolved beyond much of the evils and ignorance of humanity’s past, “Q” puts the main crew on trial to answer to the charge of being “a grievously savage race.”
Humans are, indeed, a grievously savage race. What is more savage than genocide? One is hard-pressed to think of anything more grievous.
When I researched online for an answer as to why the Jews were targeted during the Holocaust (along with homosexuals, the mentally ill, and the disabled), one of the main reasons I found was that “the Jews killed Jesus.”
What?
Killing in the name of Jesus?
Jesus who washed his disciples feet and loved even the one he knew would betray him?
Jesus who said to turn the other cheek and give the “tunic” from your back if requested?
Jesus who said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” and “love your enemies”?
Jesus who said from the cross, “Forgive them; they know not what they do?”
Jesus didn’t bring knives to the crowd of 5,000. He gave them loaves, fish, and words of wisdom.
People living lives of hatred are missing some key aspects of Jesus’ life, message, and story.
A Dash of Fear and a Big Heap of Ignorance
Hatred in the name of Christianity makes very little sense to me. Hatred, in general, makes very little sense to me. At this point in my life, I tend to think hatred is a recipe made up of a dash of fear and a big heap of ignorance. And, quite likely, an element of “supernatural” evil attracted to fear and ignorance.
A young woman in my community with Down Syndrome was recently attacked while walking in the RV park where she was temporarily staying with her mother. Mother and daughter had received racial slurs and general unpleasantness, but the most recent attack was physical. Apparently, a staff member splashed bleach in the young woman’s eyes and beat her.
The bleach burned her eyes, and it was uncertain that she would regain her vision.
Another young person in my community, a kindergarten-aged child, will not return to public school next year because of the racist remarks (deeply confusing to a 6-year-old and infuriating/frightening to a mother) of a boy at her bus stop in my neighborhood. And we live in a “good” neighborhood.
The fact is, we live in a world that is struggling. Humanity is caught in a tug-of-war between savagery/ignorance/fear and benevolence/knowledge/curiosity. I don’t think it’s “us against them,” though. I really think it is a battle going on in each and every person. And because we are animals, we imitate the ones we think are getting it right.
When someone we perceive as a powerful leader (be that a husband, parent, or world leader) appeals to our lower or higher nature, both parts are listening. Our choice is, which part of our nature do we allow to drive our actions? Which wolf do we feed?
Do we give into savage behavior driven by hate and fear? Or do we embrace a higher vision of what humans are capable of?
Behavioral Learning
There was a great example of behavioral learning in the news recently. I couldn’t help but take note.
Wild Orcas (killer whales) have been attacking yachts off the coast of Gibraltar. Three ships have been attacked, and two have been sunk by the whales, who have learned to slam their bodies into the boats.
Scientists believe it is a matriarch whale, dubbed White Gladis, who is modeling this behavior for the nearby whale population, in effect teaching these whales and their descendants to be aggressive toward humans.
It is believed that a “critical moment of agony” was experienced by Gladis in relation to a boat in the past. As a result, a domino effect is taking place, with other whales following her leadership and developing a new kind of behavior for the species.
Reading these accounts, my thoughts swirled around how I can possibly make a difference, in a world that feels so driven by large, untouchable powers, with so much fear and ignorance affecting the masses.
The Best Course of Action
I have decided the best thing I can do right now is to do my best.
I can do my best to marry my own inner savage to my own inner enlightened teacher.
I can do my best to model balanced behavior to my children and community.
I can be a person who feels deeply, thinks intensely, and cares greatly…
But I can also be the person who sometimes just eats a bunch of gluten-free pretzels, drinks ginger ale, and plays Uno with my kids.
I can read the Bible and great works of literature to my children.
I can travel widely, love bravely, and learn about everything along the way.
I can hope for the best and pray for peace. I can support other humans by encouraging them and forgiving them.
The One Thing
If you can do one thing….
Work daily at finding that sweet spot of inner balance within your own being and project it outward.
If you can’t find it inside, you won’t find it out there.
Work on yourself. The rest will follow.
