Saturday January 24, 2009   Obama’s Nonbeliever Nod Unsettles Some the headline reads.  Obama said “We know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.  We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers.”  So now some folks are ticked that he gave a shout out to the “nonbelievers.”  I find that pretty amusing.  That’s like saying this is a farm of cows, goats, rabbits and chickens, and some folks insisting that the chickens are not part of the farm at all.

What they really mean is that the chickens are different from the other animals in that they are not mammals, but that doesn’t make birds any less than the mammals.  But the fact is you cannot deny that the chickens exist and share space with the cows, the goats and rabbits.

The folks who feel Obama should not have included “nonbelievers” in his phrase to describe our nation simply have been taught that Us. vs. Them mentality and they are truly concerned for their welfare.  When things start going differently than they were brought up to believe “was right,” it scares them.

They are saying that those people who live among them, who do not believe as they do, are separate and apart from them.  They do not embrace them as brothers or countrymen.  Thankfully these people are in the minority.  The AOL poll that ran with the article asked if I was offended by the “nonbeliever” remark.  73% of us were not.

I’ve seen through the years so many times where people will get along fine for years and suddenly one mentions an adverse political or religious belief and suddenly that is all the two can focus on and they quickly become distant and contentious.

I knew two neighbors for about ten years and everyone got along fine.  The split came during the 2000 election and the two become bitter foes.  No more talks about the yard and the plants and the weather and vacations and the kids and the grandkids and the…entire rest of their lives.  They both allowed their differing opinions on that one topic to redefine their relationship status and it affected every moment of their lives and still does.

Had that topic never entered the equation, these two would have been brothers until the end.  Instead, it’s the Hatfields and McCoys living next to each other and – ya gotta laugh – there is a stand of giant oaks  and bamboo running the exact length of the backyard property line.  So there’s the ongoing battle of who is invading on whom.  I love Nature’s metaphors.

Us versus them.  Nothing changed except their thoughts and perception.  So now instead of going out of their way to help each other and make life fun and enjoyable, they plot revenge on acts largely imagined.  Plus trying to get other neighbors involved and taking sides so it ends up being Your End Of The Block vs. My End Of The Block.

I just pray for these people and engage them in talk related to what we DO have in common: the sour orange grove, the fruit trees, the mowing schedule, the oleander caterpillar remedy.  And I keep my personal opinions to myself.  I remind myself that I don’t need to comment on every remark they make.

Oh! I hear the latest Us. vs. Them insecurity flareup: the run on guns.  “Yep,” a hard drinking, backward thinking group says, “a black man is now president and who knows what that might lead to, so we better buy up all the guns we can right now, before they get them all.”

Indeed, who knows what having a black president might lead to?  I could talk all idealistic and spout the overused clichés about “he knows struggle, he’ll be fair, he’ll right wrongs”.  I’ll admit I’m drinking the kool aid, but what he IS about is thinking and acting in a spirit of cooperation.  Seeing the big picture.

And it’s not about righting wrongs that have been done to black people.  It is about righting wrongs that mankind has done to mankind.  It is about acting in accord with the foundations set forth in our country’s most esteemed documents and acknowledging every man, woman and child as equal.  Whether they believe or don’t believe.  Nonbelievers are very much part of us as well.  Many of my friends do not believe as I do on a lot of topics.  We stick to topics we have fun discussing, so it’s never an issue.

I just say a prayer for people who think that way, and anytime I am given a chance to sit and listen to them, it helps me understand what their fears and insecurities are and what they really stem from and what the issue really is.

I truly believe that anytime I can come to a new understanding of someone or some idea or belief, that it is like the Hundredth Monkey: if I can understand it, maybe I’m the 100th monkey and then suddenly everyone in  my neighborhood will understand it and then everyone in my city and then in Florida and then in the US and then the world.

Then all struggle and strife will end and the world will become a happy place.  And all because I choose to let myself sit and listen deeply to someone and hear them and make myself understand them.  All because I chose to add my hopeful thoughts on behalf of a friend who didn’t have a hopeful thought of her own to hold.

So what thought form are you adding to the world energy right now?

What results are you helping to bring about?

Ah, dawn breaks!