Civilised - Or Not!

Earlier this week many people in Spain and the Americas celebrated Columbus Day, the day that Columbus first set foot on land on the other side of the Atlantic on the 12th October 1492.  At the time, Columbus and his associates went in order to find new land and claim it for the Spanish crown.  They actually thought they would find India going west instead of east as was the usual route. When they arrived in the Americas, they realised that this was a 'new world', somewhere they didn't know about.  They.saw how much gold and treasure there was and how friendly the native inhabitants were and realised how easy it would be to dominate them, making them slaves, forcing them to accept their christian faith and robbing them of all their wealth.  The native population were treated like animals that needed to be 'civilised'.  The truth is that many tribes were actually more civilised than the Spaniards, having a good system of social care, a healthy economy and thriving trade.  They were knowledgeable in many aspects of life including the arts and crafts as well as their study of the solar system and the natural world around them.  In opening their hearts and arms to receive their new guests, what they received was abuse, murder, pillaging and slavery - all in the name of Christianity.   Nowadays there is a growing movement to rename the day in favour of the indigenous people rather than Columbus.  


Although nations no longer go around the world killing and pillaging as in the past days of European empires, there are those who still find ways of destroying what is not theirs and taking for themselves what rightfully belongs to others, of course with promises of payment of a kind.  We need look no further than the same American continent to note that vast parts of the Amazon jungle are being cleared in order to have land where cattle can be raised.  This is so that more cattle can be farmed in order to keep down the price of beef for more northerly  parts of the world.  Apart from the damage to the planet's climate that the destruction of the Amazon jungle causes, there are countless indigenous tribes that have been swallowed up in this scheme.  Some feel almost forced to comply with what they are asked to do while others still fight on to keep what is rightfully theirs and the lifestyle that they choose to live.  It begs the question, 'Who are the savages and who are the civilised ones?'   The photo shows the systematic clearing of the jungle to make way for cattle.

On a happier note, this week I saw an article on social media that was also remembering an incident from the past.  Fifteen years earlier a small boy had fallen 18 feet into a den of gorillas at a zoo.  Everyone was dismayed as they thought that he would certainly be harmed.  However a gentle female gorilla called Binti approached the unconscious boy as he lay on the hard concrete surrounding the den.  She picked him up and cradled him in her arms, patted him a few times but got no response.  Everyone thought that surely now the boy would be hurt but instead Binti picked the boy up and walked almost 60 feet to an access door where an attendant and a paramedic could see to him.  All the time Binti guarded the boy from the other gorillas, growling at them to make sure the boy was kept safe.  I can't help thinking though that if any of the bystanders had been carrying a gun, they would have shot Binti without a second thought, presuming that on approaching the boy, she intended to harm him.  

We may not physically harm someone or rob them of any worldly goods but how often do we prejudge others?  Sadly many white people seem to have the attitude that they are in some way superior to those of a darker skin colour.  It might not be expressed in words but certainly in attitude.  How often do we look at a person's way of dressing or the house they live in and prejudge them without getting to know them?   Who would have thought that a gorilla would treat a human being with such care and gentleness in comparison to the way many people treat their fellow human beings?  People aren't better or worse than anyone else - they are simply different, sometimes by choice and sometimes by their cultural background.  I always remember my dear mother telling us as children, 'God loves everybody and so must we.'  Wise words.  Maybe being civilised is really about living God's love through our daily activities and attitudes and has nothing to do with authority, power and wealth.

Imperfect

Every Wednesday morning I help out at the luncheon club that is held in the church hall just further along the street where I live.  We had a break for the summer during the month of August but this week we were back again.  Someone had donated a large bag full of apples they thought we might be able to make some use of.  As it happened, on the menu this week was pork and gammon so some freshly made apple sauce was just right.  There was plenty left over that was partly cooked and put in the freezer to use at some future date in some dessert.  What caught my attention was that they were all apples that you would never have been able to buy at any store.  

They weren't perfectly formed.  Some had bruises from their fall from the trees and some had a few bits that had to be cut away and discarded.  Having said all that we made good use of what we had, imperfect as they were.  It never ceases to amaze me just how much food must be discarded just because it is not perfectly formed or has some bruising or is maybe a little overripe.  What a waste!  We don't know because such merchandise never actually gets into the shops for us to buy even if we wanted to.  

It seems that nowadays everybody looks for perfection in all things.  Nobody wants to tolerate anything less than perfection, whether that be the shape of fruit or any other merchandise we may want to buy.  Anything that is even slightly damaged is discarded.  We would be in real trouble if God thought that about us though!  'If you're not perfect, you're not welcome here in heaven' is not something that God who is love would say to anyone.  We sing the song 'Just as I am' and that's how God accepts us.  

Stories from the Old Testament should really open our eyes to the overwhelming love and grace that God has for his creation.  King David who is held in such high esteem was a murderer and coveted the wife of another.  Lot got drunk and had incestuous relations with his daughters (even though it was their idea)  Samson was a womaniser.  Gideon kept asking God for proof of what God was asking him to do.  Joseph was an arrogant show-off, always taunting his older brothers.  Jacob was a cheat, finding a way to steal his brother's birthright.  Rahab was a prostitute.  And in the New Testament, Paul, who is so revered and quoted by Christians, aided and abetted in the extermination of Christians, ruthlessly hunting them down and gloating at the stoning of Stephen.  These make up many stories in our Scriptures - God's word.  The murderer David and the prostitute Rahab are mentioned in the lineage of Jesus, the perfect son of God.  

Nobody's perfect!  Yet God loves and blesses and uses us.  He does not discard us because of our imperfections.  I need to remember that whenever I see something not quite perfect or before making some judgmental remark about someone.    

What do I think?

I have been greatly impacted by a couple of videos that I've seen shared on social media this week.  The first one was a deliberate ploy to see how people would react when they discover that someone had dropped his wallet.  A number of people were very honest and immediately called after the young man to tell him he had dropped his wallet.  However there was one young man who picked up the wallet, looked around but didn't see who had dropped it so he put it in his pocket.  He then proceeded to do some shopping using a credit card that was identical to the one that had been in the wallet.  He bought a number of things before continuing on his journey.  He kept taking the wallet out of his pocket and looking through it and also phoning presumably some friend.  The man was probably in his twenties and had one prosthetic lower leg that was clearly visible and so I thought that maybe if he was classed as disabled then maybe he was struggling financially, unable to hold a full time job and so this wallet that suddenly appeared would seem like a piece of good luck for him.  Eventually the video clip ended when he actually went to the house of the person whose wallet he had found.  He was taking it back to its owner.  He had not used the credit card from the wallet but his own credit card that was identical to the one that had been dropped.  He had not used any of the money from the wallet but all the time had used his own money.  How wrong I was to prejudge the young man as were many others including the person who set up the ploy in the first place.

            

The second video that left a lasting impression on me was by a lady called Yassmin Abdel-Magied.  She began by asking what people's reactions were when they saw her dressed with a hijab and typical 'Muslim' style clothes.  Hopefully most would not judge her just because she was obviously a Muslim but would be open to listen to what she had to say.  She went on to ask what they would think of her if she said she was a mechanic.  I guess a few smiled, thinking 'no way!'  She proceeded to take off her outer garment and hijab to reveal underneath the bright orange work clothes of a motor mechanic and put on a hard hat over her hair that was tightly fastened with a scarf.  She said that actually she designed racing cars and that this was her day job.  Surprise!    She went on to talk about how often we are not openly biased but that actually deep inside we still have prejudices and biases that are so hidden that we're quite unaware of them.  She went on to tell a story of a man and his son who were in a car when they had an accident.  The father died on impact and the son was rushed to hospital.  The surgeon came to see the young man before operating but said 'I can't operate on him.  That is my son.'  I must admit that my first reaction was that the man in the car must have been his step-father.  Yassmin then went on to say that the surgeon was his mother.  Ouch! I've done it again.

The thing is that my late husband was not English, European or from North America and I lived abroad for about 10 years.  I have mixed freely with many people of different cultures and all walks of life, from highly professional to those in abject poverty.  I also have a person from my extended family who converted to Islam a few years ago.  So I really consider myself to be totally non-biased and accepting of those from other parts of the world and other cultures.  So for me these two videos made me see again that there are sometimes things that are just part of who we are and how we think because we have been brought up in a particular culture  or from a part of the world with a certain way of looking at things.  For me it was a wake-up call to check my reactions to people and situations that might concern religion, gender, sexuality or disability.  I must never presume anything about someone without getting to know them.  As Yassmin says in her talk, very often our first reactions and judgements about people turn out to be wrong.  It was also a reality check for me to not think I'm above having such reactions and thoughts.  Some things are so ingrained in us that it is difficult to acknowledge their presence.  What do I think?  I think I'm not as free from bias as I thought I was.  There is still work to be done and room for improvement.  And you?  What do you think?

Please try to make time to watch the videos.  You'll find it worthwhile.

Labels

I have become quite an avid label reader.  At first, when food shopping, it was about the total calories an item contained.  Then for those of us who need to take care of our cholesterol level it's more about the amount of saturated fat that a product contains.  The latest in the line of 'baddies' that we need to look out for is sugar, especially it seems in low fat products.  It's amazing just how much sugar and salt are added to just about everything, even to what you think are savoury products.  There is currently a series on TV about such matters.  Last week it looked at sugar in food, this week about the total calories.  Next week they will be taking an in-depth look at fats.  Oh dear, it seems we cannot win.  Years ago we didn't seem to have all these problems but of course years ago, we knew exactly what was in our food as we mostly cooked it from fresh ingredients.  All this labeling is useful if you're trying to maintain a decent quality of healthy food in your diet, especially as so much of what we consume is now already processed for our convenience - although I still prefer to prepare meals from fresh so I know exactly what's in them.  

It's not just in food though that we see people checking labels.  Some people prefer clothing with certain brand name labels rather than others.  When I look at clothing labels it's not so much for the name of the maker but rather how to take care of it and wash/iron it.  When I buy items of crockery, pots and pans etc. then I look to see if I can use them in the microwave, oven or dishwasher.  That's because I really don't want to break something or spoil it by putting it in the microwave or oven if it's not made to withstand the high heat.  As regards the dishwasher and washing machine, it does seem a bit pointless buying something that I need to wash by hand when the whole point of having a machine is to save me from that very activity.  When it comes to clothing if it says 'do not iron', that's an added bonus.  So again, labels are very useful and in some cases quite necessary in order to know exactly what we are purchasing and if it meets our requirements.

Labels tell us a lot about where something was made, what's it's made from and what are its uses.  The problem is that we tend to label things that can't really be labelled.  Sticking a label on doesn't necessarily tell us everything we want or need to know.  When we define people with a label, we might get some idea of what they believe (Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu etc) or where they come from (Britain, Asia, Africa etc) or their sexuality (gay, straight, trans or bisexual) but such labels don't really tell us about the person behind the label.  We can't know from a label if there is any unseen or invisible disability.  We don't know what financial or emotional struggles someone is experiencing just by seeing that they happen to be 'white European' for example (or any other combination of labels).  People can so often put on a brave face, keep smiling when they are actually going to pieces deep inside.  How many people get conned out of money by someone who 'looked' trustworthy and dressed smartly?  Labeling someone by their outward appearance is not really knowing that person.  You can have a fair idea of goods you buy by their labels but you can't use the same method of getting to know a person simply by putting them in a certain box or category.  Sadly we do this too much.  Just as you can't judge a book by its cover, so you can't know a person by a label that some people want to stick on them.  Labels judge people, friendship gets to know them.  

Lord, help me not to pigeon-hole people just by their religion, ethnicity, sexuaity or outward appearance but help me to love and treat them all as You do by looking deeper and trying to get to know them better.