You can choose to stand there and look over your shoulder and jeer at the runners who are behind you. Or you can choose to focus on your own path before you and run into the distance.
In other words, you can choose to point out the flaws of others and inhibit your own growth, or you can look inward and correct your own flaws, and grow to be a better person.
We are all on this racetrack on many levels, on a personal level, sometimes on an ethnic or religious level, almost always on a national level. But though we are on a racetrack, this is not a race.
Too often we use the runners around us to measure our progress. Because there are so many other people in this world, so many other religions/ethnicities in this world, so many other countries in this world, there will always be someone behind us on the track. When we look over our shoulders, we will always find at least one other person or group who is not at our “level.” Many of us use this as an excuse to stay stagnant, like the hare in “The Tortoise and the Hare.” “Hey,” we say. “I’m not like him. Look at all his flaws! Look at what he did!” Looking at the other runner, we can feel smug, safe, innocent… perfect. We can stay right where we are.
It’s hard to run. Perhaps it’s not so bad, taking off and moving for the first few moments. You hold the door for someone, you say please and thank you, you clean up after yourself at home. Not so tough, okay, I can do this.
But now, can you take it to the next level? Can you give to charity? Can you volunteer, even? Can you look deep within yourself and examine your anger issues, your pride, your unwillingness to apologize after insulting someone?
If so, you will keep going. You will keep moving your legs, even as they begin to feel heavy, even as you feel stitches in your sides, even as you begin panting for breath.
Can you come home at the end of a long day and still gather up the energy to have a conversation with your husband/wife/child/sibling/parent, instead of plopping down in front of the tv and staring at it mindlessly?
At the larger levels, can you examine the flaws of your own country and try to come up with a solution? Can you say, “My country, right the wrong,” rather than, “My country, right or wrong,” excusing yourself by saying you don’t want to sound unpatriotic?
If so, you will keep going. Your legs will keep moving, even as beads of sweat form and run down your forehead, your neck, your chest, even as blisters begin to sting your heels, even as the elements seem to force you back: the blazing sun, the erratic wind, the pelting rain. But you will push onward.
Can you do it?
Too often I have been surrounded by other members of my faith, or other members of my country. I am Jewish and an American, but this has nothing to do with my experiences, because this can happen to anyone.
We’ve got our own issues. I am not in Egypt right now. I am not in Saudi Arabia. I am not in Iran. We can stand there in the middle of the racetrack and comment on how horrified we are about the way “Muslims treat their women.” We can stand there and shake our heads about how terrible China is when it comes to their shoddy manufacturing. We can stand there and spit in disgust at how undemocratic this country is, or that country, or that country. We can stand there and not move.
“They” this, and “they” this, and “they” that.
Not only will we not move ourselves forward along the track, because we are too busy pointing fingers at “them,” but we will not move “them” forward with this method either.
Do you honestly expect your jeers to have an affect on “them”? Do you think all Muslims will suddenly drop their jaws in shock, blink a few times, look at you and say, “Oh my God.. you’re so right! I’m going to convert to your religion right away!” Or do you expect to just kill their leaders and, as in the Wizard of Oz, when the Wicked Witch was killed, the “monkeys” will turn “good”? Do you expect to kill them all? Or are you waiting for some Messiah figure to descend, who will pour out all of “God’s wrath” on “them” and everything will be okay?
Or maybe you were just commenting on the way the world is, and you’re not expecting any solution to occur at all.
I am in control of my own body. I can tell only my own legs to move. I can make only my own self go forward. I can push myself, force myself through the wind and rain, to become a better person, the best person I can possibly be, because I’ve got the mental endurance. I’ve got the willpower. I will not measure myself by the others on the track, nor look behind me and stay still. I will run forward on this endless marathon in my quest to live my life as best as I can.
Within my own faith, and within my own country, I can say, “We need to do a, b and c better,” or, “We should stop the practice of d, e and f because the Torah/the Constitution of the United States says g, h and i.” This may not succeed, but because I say “we,” I include myself in the group, and I include myself in the running, in the challenge, in the journey. I too will bear the burden. The word “you,” on the other hand, is accusatory, and will not work.
There are only two ways we can possibly help others on their own paths. One is to lead by example, hoping that “they” are looking forward at some of other runners and will be inspired by us.
The other way is to fully study the laws, the leaders, and the ideas in the religion/country of the “other.” There is no one group of people that is fully evil. There is no one religion that does not have the Golden Rule, and if there is, I don’t know about it. Islam, Judaism, and Christianity all have the Golden Rule, which is “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”
If there is something that “they” are doing wrong, we must study their customs, find one that contradicts the practice, and point it out.
If we are speaking with a Christian, we might say, “If Jesus said a, b and c, why is x, y and z right?”
If we are speaking with a Jew, we might say, “The famous Jewish teacher Hillel once said a, b, and c. Therefore, why does x, y and z happen?”
If we are speaking with a Muslim, we might say, “In a hadith, the Prophet Muhammed is said to have done a, b and c. If that’s the case, why do people do x, y and z?”
If we approach the “other” with the intention of having a dialogue rather than an argument, and we acknowledge the fact that they might not change their minds – in fact, you might be the one to learn something new instead – then we – we as in all of humanity – are all moving forward in the right direction.
I sound like a delusional idealist? I am too optimistic, you say? Which sounds more realistic, the coming of a Messiah who will magically “smite our enemies” and make all our problems disappear, or a day when people of all faiths and all nations can turn their swords into plowshares and journey forward on this track, together as one world? Perhaps these are both miracles, but I would prefer to pray for and work towards the second option.
What about you?
