Am I Being a Desert or an Oasis?
A few days ago, I had the opportunity to interact with someone very dear to me, one of those rare friendships that won the test of time and survived all seasons of our lives. We shared with grave concern our analyses of the moment of conflicting energies we are going through. When comparing our experiences on social media and messaging apps, we shared a deep sadness on seeing intolerance prevail, and it was impossible not to notice that the ditches that, in a not-so-distant past, separated different worldviews, were slowly but consistently expanding, and becoming true irreconcilable abysses.
We agreed that, without taking notice, we are being constantly manipulated by these same social media and messaging apps, which benefit from the conflict instigated by irresponsible leaders. Leaders who inconsequentially radicalize positions and, without the blink of an eye, encourage the non-acceptance of others who think differently. They demonize opponents, turning them into the embodiment of evil. As a consequence, we naively equalize leaders and followers, turning the latter into "evil" people by a not so clever association (if not malicious). As a result of this erroneous conclusion, friends stop interacting (eliminating themselves in the apps and avoiding meeting each other), family members break their ties, brother opposes brother, parents and their kids no longer respect each other, and the "us and them" become "us against them".
And the saddest thing is to see people who share the same creeds, attend the same temples, read the same gospel (or any other holy book), betray beliefs by offending others through posts that ridicule them for thinking differently. Moments later, they go and attend religious services and preach loving thy neighbor.
And all the damage that is done to our human relations, enhanced by technology, serve only to fatten the profits of those same apps, which have their traffic of information (almost always fake) exponentially amplified due to our conflicting interactions, while we see advertisements that are subliminally recorded in our subconscious. They instigate the conflict. They want the conflict. They profit from the conflict. And in the meantime, we decline as human beings. (As a reference I recommend a documentary called “The Social Dilemma”, of which I add a trailer from YouTube at the end of this text). Not to mention that such leaders, now staunch opponents, may one day become allies given some new interests, and will certainly retire with loaded bank accounts, while our human capital was lost at some point along the way.
At the end of the conversation, this friend and I exchanged messages of positivism and hope and agreed not to share the desert in which human relations are gradually becoming. We decided to keep posting inspiring messages on social media, ignoring the ideological position of the people we love, and for the unrestricted tolerance of the differences between us and our friends and family. After all, independently of us being aware of this fact or not, all these differences are temporary and circumstantial. They will all go away. What should not pass are the friendships, the kinship, the family.
We decided that, although our ideological positions and our creeds were quite solid and mature, we would not allow such positions to be greater than our human relations.
As I put my phone aside that day, the feeling was that I had just experienced a moment of peace and harmony, after days and days witnessing only negativism and conflict. In the middle of the desert, I had found in that virtual interaction, a small and refreshing oasis. And then I thought; that's what we need. To intentionally adopt, both in the real and virtual worlds, an oasis attitude, seeking to do exactly the opposite of what has been propagated in a massive and strenuous way.
And what would this oasis attitude be then? It's pretty simple. We simply need to analyze our human interactions, whether in person or virtually, and seek to understand if what we are propagating is aligned with the precepts of loving our neighbors. Let us ask ourselves if what we are emanating is serving God's purposes or denying them. Before we press "send", let us ask whether Jesus (or whatever spiritual point of reference is followed) would also send or "like" such content. Before we treat those who think differently with aggressiveness and repulse, let us think that the master of masters invited a tax collector who served the enemies (Romans), to be his follower, and later, his greatest evangelist. Let us remember that he, for a long time, chose to preach in Samaria, in many aspects an opposing region of Judea. What this means is, that he cared little about differences and oppositions. His purpose was above these minor and temporary issues.
In other words, it is not enough to go to temples, listen to the teachings, and say amen. Such teachings should be put to practice and lived. As the phrase attributed to San Francis suggests; let us preach the gospel, but let us only use words when necessary, for what really counts is our attitude in the day to day.
The world is in desperate need of tolerance, generosity, and acceptance. Let us remember this in our next human interaction, real or virtual. Governments pass. Leaders pass. However, our attitude towards our neighbors (and here I repeat the post of July/22, this applies for any sort of neighbor) is what will decide what is not to pass, which is our human and spiritual legacy. This legacy is worth more than any election results, or any ideological, sexual, or religious choices of others. If our time ended today, would our legacy be remembered as a desert, or as an oasis?
