Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

How far back do you remember? As for me, my memory goes back quite a long way, even if it be in dribs and drabs. I remember what it was like being little, going around with this big mommy person and taking in all the sights and sounds of the world around me. I remember the wonder. I remember the joy of discovering new things. I remember the encounters with other little people like myself, thinking "here's a new friend".

So, when did this all change? Can you remember the point in your life where you started looking at other people in terms of us and them? Whereas before, everyone presented as an opportunity to forge a wonderful new relationship, now all we have is distrust and a cynical expectation of having that person disappoint us. When did we all become so jaded as a society?

Today, people as adults go through life wanting to belong to a tribe. There is safety in numbers, right? Everything has to have a label. We have this innate need to be able to establish an expectation on someone based on those labels. So, you are either a liberal or a Conservative. You're either for something or against something. You are either a like-minded kindred spirit or a foul, evil contrarian.

When did we lose the ability to see the grey rather than the black or the white? When did we become so fearful of one another? If you look at the darkest parts of our history, you will see that the leaders that have exercised their authority over us have manipulated us using this fear. We see it in politics. We see it in organised religion. Heck, we see it in high school. You are either in with the popular kids, or you are someone to be avoided like the plague.

I am a Christian. If you have read a few of my blog articles, you may already know this about me. Yet, I had not been back to church in a very long time. And this is be