Starting With the Man in the Mirror

The human experience is universal. Not identical.  Universal.

Yes, we differ from one another in seemingly more ways than we are similar; however, those differences are simply classifications or labels that we place on ourselves.  Classifications that are too simple for humanity.  Labels that are too restricting.  They are often used to give one group power or privilege over another, ways to consider ourselves more human than all the rest. 

Black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern.  A beautiful rainbow of God's ultimate creation.  A tapestry of creative design.  But the beauty has been destroyed by our own human intervention.  Did God create humankind in some hierarchical order: the white man first as the pinnacle of the human race, followed by the hues and shades of skin and face?  Or did God simply create humanity?  And he called it good.

Ethnicity.  Gender.  Sexuality.  Socio-economic class.  The list goes on, distancing ourselves from one another, breaking the bond of universal humanity so much so that we can't identify or relate with one another or even co-exist peacefully.  Lies.  Not told to us from an outside entity but whispered in our ears by our very own mouths to infiltrate and corrupt and distort our very own minds and thoughts and conscience. 

Labels that are imperfect in and of themselves.  In a world that is ever-changing...or wait...is it ever changing?  Is the world changing, or are we becoming enlightened?  Are we really being enlightened or are we finally allowing ourselves to open to the fullness of humanity?  Or, maybe...just maybe...we are finally breaking free from the labels that have been forcefully injected into each of us by those who assumed power and control centuries and millennia ago. 

Regardless, labels are imperfect.  Is it really so easy to classify humanity into two genders: male and female?  Or is gender much more fluid and complex?  Of course science and religion don't agree with one another on this issue.  Actually, is it science and religion that don't agree?  Or is it those who promote ideologies that have conned us into thinking that there is only one way to think?  Sexuality must be much more than gay or straight.  In fact, it has been argued that very few, if anyone, is 100% gay or 100% straight, that there is a fluid continuum on which humans fall. 

Though we try convincing ourselves that we "aren't like those people", indeed, we are.  There are a million ways in which I could argue that we reflect one another more than we contradict, but I'll choose a simple two.  It is summarized in Romans 12:15, "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn."  Our ability to identify with the complexities of rejoicing and mourning stems from our innate humanity, our universal human experience, our raw, untainted emotions. 

We are able to celebrate with others because we have all felt the innate feeling of happiness and joy.  The profound love of family or friends.  The gift of parenthood or the sheer innocence of a child's laughter.  The depth of love between spouses.  These are things that transcend race or ethnicity or religion or gender or sexuality or social class.  Universally human.  Our own experiences gift us the great ability to join the rejoicing of others.  Whether we speak the same language or eat the same food or listen to the same music or follow the same religion or share the same political opinion, we are capable - if we are willing - to share in the rejoicing of our brothers and sisters, and even strangers.

Likewise, we can share in the suffering of others because we all have suffered.  Some in much more profound ways than others.  But we all experience pain, heartbreak, sadness, and disappointment.  Sin, not some list of "do's and don'ts", but that which breaks relationship causes deep brokenness.  Our own brokenness allows us to see the brokenness of others and should compel us to empathize with their mourning. This universal human experience should cause our hearts to hurt for those who are hurting. 

Thanks Michael Jackson, but it is as simple as the man in the mirror.  When I look at a fellow human, no matter how different they are from me, I am looking into a mirror.  A reflection.  My human experience shared in some way by someone else.  Of course it isn't a perfect reflection, as no mirror image is.  Nonetheless, I can see myself. 

Injustice and inequality should hurt us to the core of our heart because we can identify with those who truly suffer.  The woman enslaved to human trafficking.  The child forced to labor.  The homosexual couple refused to marry.  The coffee farmer working tireless hours a day for mere pennies.  The African American treated as a second class citizen.  The refugee refused safety.  The list goes on.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. summarized it much better than I am able: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."  When I see the humanity stripped from another, it should disturb the deepest depth of my being, as my own humanity is reflected in their suffering.

In some way, we are all interconnected.  We do not stand on isolated isles of human experience.  My own life sends ripples that affects the human experience of another.  I drink coffee every day at the expense of millions of people living on dollars a day who tirelessly plant and till and produce my bean.  Likewise, the chocolate that I so delight in eating. Likewise, many of the clothes that I can purchase.  Likewise, much of the jewelry that I might wear.  Likewise, many of the electronics that I use.

Black and brown men and women being stripped of their rights, and sometimes their very lives, should wreck me as my rights are so readily protected.   Refugees desperately seeking asylum should press me to action as I live in such relative ease and comfort.  My humanity is my most innate right, as it is with everyone else who walks the earth.  Therefore, I should seek to preserve and protect the humanity of all, regardless if I am ready and willing to acknowledge my own likeness in "them".

I will share my story with you, but you must protect my humanity.  I know many friends or acquaintances of mine will read in disgust or disagreement, but remember my humanity.  As much as you consider me different from you, we are much more alike than we are different.  If you choose to mourn with me, mourn not the decisions that I have made or the lifestyle that I live or the path that I am journeying.  Instead, mourn where I have mourned, hurt where I have hurt, cry where I have cried, fight where I have fought.  Allow your own humanity to touch mine. 

And as we look at injustice and explore inequity, may God allow all of us to push past our own humanity to become caretakers, defenders, and protectors of others.