Crossing the lines

Two societies. That's what I see every time I look around - one society of tolerance, the other of arrogance. The issues separating them are completely moot because each item only serves to separate and delineate rather than bring people together. Everyone to some extent or another lives in their own little world - solutions individuals come up with tend to make sense to them, but not to others, with a myriad of gray shades in between.

There are many times that those delineations or lines drawn in the sand become law, and other times that people can't see the difference between legal obligations and moral ones. Generally, the solution that works for me is to not worry about the minutia of differences between people and enjoy the time spent connecting with everyone from differing cultures within and without of our country. That doesn't mean I change who I am, unless it makes too much sense not to.

Is it too much trouble to learn a few words in Spanish, for example, to encourage a large minority of people to do trade with you? How about French? How about Sign English? If I were exposed to enough people who spoke Swahili or Japanese, for example, I might pick up a few phrases - for common courtesy's sake, if not respect. Which brings me to English...

Many claim to speak it, and many DO speak it, to varying degrees of proficiency. There's always someone who is better than I am at writing or speaking. However, I do not INTENTIONALLY separate myself by speaking any special "part of culture 'X' words" that would serve only to delineate me from society in general. I do enough of that without really trying.

So, do we, as citizens of our creator, and as citizens of a secular world, and as citizens of a country, and as citizens of a state/province, and as citizens of a family choose to have enough context with others to mesh when appropriate? I do not believe so. I believe evil delineation is embedded in many common phrases, such as, but not limited to: African-American, Spanish-speaking American, Caucasian, White/other (as seen on government forms), Reverse-discrimination, and indeed, in common usage in our particular context, American. Why does American in the U.S. mean a citizen of the United States, as opposed to Venezuelan? Or as opposed to a group that went on a ship with Amerigo Vespucci to name our continents?

As long as we accept these labels without complaint, we accept being separate. I hear a smart person one time said that separate was inherently inequal.

So, let's drop the pretenses and the wounds - I am a mutt, being part of all the following separate and inequal entities: Welsh, Portugese, Swiss, Baltic, African, Native... American, for lack of a better term. What do I fill out when asked which separate entity I belong to? Do I tell those in power to opress a group, give me 10 acres and a mule, get off my land, and stop religiously oppressing me all at the same time? How about we just stop asking - I like that better.