Us vs Them

In high school there was the face off between the Geeks and Jocks.  Depending on which side of the divide one was on, the other side was seen as second class, lower than or less than human.  The ones that could "strut their stuff" were able to call the shots for entire school body.

That same tendency to divide the human race into Us and Them runs deep in our nature.  During times of war we label the enemy in order to dehumanize them.  So we had, during WWII, the Japs and the Krauts; during the Korean War, the Slant Eyes and the Chinks; Vietnam saw us facing the Cong, the VC; and in our current wars we are up against the Ragheads, the Terrorists, the Islamic Fundamentalists.

Once we have slapped a denigrating label on another person or group of people we have greater freedom in denying their human dignity.  It then becomes much easier to kill them.  For most people, it is very difficult to take the life of another person whom we recognize as an equal to us.  Hence our need to dehumanize them if we are to eliminate them from our personal world.

This same need to divide into Us vs Them is evident on the political front that is now over.  Whether it is Democrat vs Republican, Liberal vs Conservative, or whatever other category you wish to develop, the purpose is the same -- to cast the other in the role of enemy and so to eliminate them from the picture.  That division only brings about the loss of half of our human resources and leaves us that much more impoverished.  The point at which we have divided our world into Us vs Them, whether something so simple as Left Handers vs Everyone Else, that is the point at which we are all losers.  When we exclude someone else from our life we have deprived outselves of some form of richness.

Jesus came into a world that was divided between the Jews and the Gentiles.  Each saw the other as the enemy.  The Jews were further divided into the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Samaritans.  Each of these groups was pitted against the others.  Instead of choosing one group to the exclusion of the others, Jesus reached out and included all of them in His Father's plan of salvation.  Whenever confronted by one or the other, he would invite them into his circle, into his Kingdom.  No one was excluded except those who chose to exclude themselves.

How would our world be different today if, instead of Us vs Them, our vision was Us and Them, WE together?  If we viewed others through the perspective of Jesus, of including rather than excluding them, would we not handle the problems, differences and difficulties with a renewed energy and more hopeful commitment?  Let's begin with our own families.  Not Parents vs Children, or Older Generation vs Younger Generation.  But by bridging the gap between Us and Them, by changing our perspective to a WE Together, only then can we initiate the Kingdom of God in our midst today.  Only then can we hope to overcome the barriers between us all.