Sorting It All Out

The dramatic and tragic events of September 11, 2001 had the power to impact every single person on this planet in some way. Think about it. There have been few if any events in the history of the world like it. The technological developments of recent years made the news almost instantaneous throughout the world and even the photographic images of what happened was able to be viewed by all humanity with both immediacy and repetition. Even our human family members in space have been able to look back at our blue marble and view the rising cloud over Manhattan. Our collective attention has been grabbed.

Now that we are paying attention, what will we, the people of the world do? As the days pass after the events we begin to realize that we do not all react and think about the situation in the same way. For those of us who have experienced the healing power of the Dialogue process this should not be a surprise. We know that how we react to any present time event is based on our life experiences and on how we have effectively healed past hurts or allowed them to remain unheated and buried, ready to fester when re-stimulated. Our reaction is also based on what knowledge and information we have received in our lives or what wrong information we may have incorporated into our worldview.

There are those who want retaliation so badly they will go out and personally commit acts of terrorism against innocent people based on their appearance, ethnicity or religion. Others demand retaliation on the part of the government according to a whole spectrum of military responses. Others plead that our officials can get beyond the long outdated dictum of”an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” observing that it fails to solve anything and only fosters more violence. Some only feel a sense of confusion, wanting something to be done but not knowing what to do, wanting to channel their energy in constructive ways personally. There have been many publicized opportunities for things such as giving blood or contributing to relief organizations, expressing support to relief workers and families of victims and of course praying. All of these are important and useful. But the larger longing many feel is the desire to do something that will change the whole situation and make it not happen any more. That is a more complicated task.

To insure that it won´t happen any more requires that we first recognize that not all people in the world view the events and what they represented in the same way. Even if their views seem completely irrational and evil to us we must accept that that is the way they feel based on their life experiences and the information and understandings out of which they operate. Seeing that it does not happen any more also requires that we start getting correct information, a lot of it and quickly. We need to understand history and religion and more recent “current events”. We need to get correct information about others and correct information about ourselves and the groups to which we belong, culturally, religiously, and politically. We cannot rely on just our traditional sources of information whatever they may be. We must search out new sources and evaluate them with intelligence and wisdom. Hearsay and rumor we must eliminate wherever it exists. We must become learned about the nature of stereotyping and rhetoric and propaganda and the workings of the media not only in repressive societies but “free” societies as well.

To insure that it will not happen again we need to work on personally developing an awareness that we are all one human family. What happens to one affects all. When enough individuals identify,´ with a sense of oneness with all humanity perhaps our collective groups whether ethnic, political or religious will be able to do so also. When anyone is injured or killed it is a tragedy. When anyone is starving or lacking in medical care or opportunity for education, or suffers persecution we also suffer. We have seen the evolution of humanity through ever more encompassing spheres of identification and allegiance--the family, the tribe, the city-state, the nation, the “race”, the religious group, the language group, the region. Throughout the world there are people stuck in each one of these outmoded loyalties as the world struggles toward a true global sense of identification that is essential to its future. Ironically the fear that cripples people from moving forward is baseless. Identifying with a country does not make one love or identify less with one´s family. Being able to have the broadest sense of identification does not diminish one´s appreciation for the particular whether that is a cultural group or religious group etc. And when our loyalty expands to the wider group our knowledge and appreciation grows. Every group contributes to the whole and all benefit. It is a psychological and spiritual step and is the only means to real peace.

For those who have experienced the power of the work of the Center for the Healing of Racism you realize first hand on a smaller scale that positive change can happen, by getting the facts, truly listening to the reality of others and sharing your own reality fully and honestly. We use guidelines in this process that are the source of protection, that makes everyone safe while we re-evaluate the information we have, take in new information and come to be able to listen to another person´s perspective and sense of reality. Often we say, “Trust the process.” It seems that at this juncture in human history the whole world stands in need of the guidelines. We need especially to remember that “We cannot change anyone else. Our change and growth may however influence someone else.” As individuals we can take these guidelines or principles for interaction with us wherever we go. It is not likely that the awareness of these guidelines will get to the masses on TV anytime soon or that national leaders will advocate them from the halls of power or the press will promote them in banner headlines, but there is a sense of yet untested power that they can be presented throughout the world via the Internet and weighed by those already sensitized to them. Each of us can take on the personal responsibility to share what we know calmly with all that will listen. Many are struggling to make sense of all this and searching for satisfying ways to proceed. The principles can be offered, the example shown of how to treat others, our leaders and representatives educated about how many of us feel and a thoughtful, intelligent, measured response from them requested.

Barbara Hacker