Sharing Our Humanity

Every word we speak, every action we take casts its reflection on the world. Not even the greatest of writers can capture their whole being in words.  Many people are satisfied with using clichés, which aren't even meant to capture the whole person, but are used in place of the person's actual feelings in a generic way.  Not too big of deal, except that society can become so full of these clichés that the real people behind them gradually disappear and the cliché can take the place of a person or a group of people. Sometimes societies reach such a point that any person who tries to climb outside the box of clichés is labeled heretical, radical or just strange. 

Clichés are not bad or good in and of themselves. There might be one set of clichés that represent  peace and love, and another that tends towards anger and violence.  The problem with clichés is that they are usually only terse representations of very complex situations. 

A  much bigger problem begins to present itself when people are represented through cliché. Now those simple, terse phrases replace the vast complexity of  the real person and reduces them to curt phrase.  In times of disagreement, the objective can  become to pin our enemy in the shortest phrase possible, robbing them of almost everything that makes them a real living, human being.

Were I a skilled writer, talking to a group of skilled writers, I would suggest taking up the pen and dashing holes in cliches until enough the holes were big enough to let the real, living beings behind the cliches emerge again to be loved, if not for their views, for their shared humanity.  None of us are completely right or wrong, but we're all human. I  think that having that one thing in common is cause enough for us to love and respect one another. 

However, I can't assess the writing skills of anyone who might be reading this. (There are a few it seems, according to Google stats...) If someone answers "I feel it. I've just never been good at words." I suggest a different approach. Look for the good in our "enemies."  Find points of agreement in our differences.  Resist the urge to apply the worn-out labels. Find the words that connects "us" to "them," not those that separate us from them. This itself sounds a little cliché, but I think this cliché has truth in it  for all people. It's a cliché that can be applied universally. And that's why it's important. It is a cliché that negates  other clichés.

America has been battered by opposing views for too long. Our personal views are one of our most basic rights. But screaming our individual views in the face of our opponent is leading nowhere. We can keep most of what makes us an individual and still remain an intact society. America was built around just that idea. And it was built to handle change. No one has to change just because their neighbor does. Yet, if what our neighbor does  doesn't interfere with our lives, why bother them? If it does interfere with  our lives, we can just explain why.  Maybe they'll adjust for us. Maybe they won't!

If they don't, as far as I'm concerned anyway,  then the burden of hate  is on them. I'll have no hard feelings, but I will let them live with the burden. But I have to constantly remember, if I have to use cliches, I'll carefully pick my cliches. Casting cliches not only labels the person we're labeling, it labels us. If we confine ourselves to a narrow group of cliches, we'll be seen as narrow. Maybe just as narrow as that person we're labeling. No matter how much intelligence is behind an argument, it can always suffer from narrow-mindedness. The most intelligent person in the world can still be obstinate. We all can! In fact, I'm saying this as one who should know by now that people are nearly impossible to classify, but it saves so much time. I guess it's time to make time to understand. Otherwise, we all might be staring into a lot of time without much peace.