Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Duality in the World

We would appear to live in a world of opposites: good/bad, right/wrong, Jew/gentile, male/female. These are all labels, which we rely on to guide us in our judgments & decision-making.

“Are you a Republican or a Democrat?”
“Are you straight or gay?”
“Are you a Christian or a (Catholic, Muslim, heathen)?”

Upon examination, labels prove to be virtually worthless, since within every group these is such variation the very concept of “group” loses all meaning. For example, in politics we are fond of the labels “conservative” and “liberal,” and we tend to equate Republicans with the former and Democrats with the latter. However, within both parties we have the far right and the far left and every variation between. Thus the terms “liberal Republican” and “conservative Democrat” become necessary if we are to describe more accurately certain individuals’ politics. Politicians cross political lines all the time until, again, our labels become virtually meaningless.

In religious circles such qualifiers as “orthodox,” “fundamentalist,” “evangelical,” and “liberal” help to identify more accurately a person’s position within a particular faith. It is easy to set members of the same congregation at odds with one another by raising certain questions of doctrine. Jews are not in agreement about adherence to Old Testament law any more than Christians are united on issues such as the virgin birth, works vs. faith, or the eternal security of the believer.

Take the dual concepts of “smart” and “stupid.” We can always change labels to make them sound more politically correct: intelligent vs. mentally challenged, for example. But we’re still labeling one group as desirable and the other as not. As a former classroom teacher, I regret the labeling of children (or adults) as being either “smart” or “dumb.” Of course, for years, I, too, believed that kids were either “bright” or “slow,” but it wasn’t until I was close to retirement that I figured out what is really going on.

People are not smart or stupid. They are either experienced or inexperienced. Think about that until next time.