Thoughts on people

All flourishing is mutual ~ Robin Walls Kimmerer

Humans across time and place have different values, experiences, ways of knowing, and levels of agency over their individual, social-network, and societal actions, but at the end of the day, we are all people. I reject any notion that certain persons or groups of people are not humans and any attempts to label them as animals. They are humans—to be held accountable in part based on their experiences and level of agency and in part based on the positions of those individuals and governments in positions of power, but nevertheless, we are all people. I note the tendency across history to “other” and then dehumanize groups of people, and I note that it tends to lead to horrific action on the part of those in power as well as to the ever-growing list of those who are dehumanized. To use Martin Niemöller’s often quoted reflection regarding his complicity in Nazism, “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.” In recent times, whether we think of Jewish people or Palestinians, of Conservatives or Liberals, of populists or elitists, of anti-vaxers, or of advocates of Black Lives Matter, and even whether we think of neo-Nazis, members of Hamas, or soldiers in the Russian army … we are all people.

I recognize that context is important—that it must be one of the elements weighed on the scales of justice and reconciliation. I realize that if across multiple generations discourse and legal agreements have stalled out or been trampled over, that persons and groups lacking power may feel forced to revert to violence to convey their message or change their situation. I recognize that my own context is different, and when I start to judge other persons or groups who have committed acts of violence, I ask what their context is and what level of agency and power they have, and my heart goes out to those whose people have been so unfairly treated for so long that they feel the only option left is violence. There are examples across history of where active non-violence has been able to break through oppressive regimes, and there are other examples where it has failed to break through, but violence has broken through. I do not judge those persons or groups who resort to violence, noting that many forms of government are themselves systems of violence and oppression. But I do aspire for restorative justice rather than punitive justice in my own life, social network, and society, because at the end of the day, we are all people who have our own experiences, who have made mistakes, and who ultimately seek to flourish the best we know how.

I recognize that I care more about those close to me – my family more than my society, and my society more than other societies. I recognize that I care more about humans than other peoples – like the deer people or the oak people or the dog people. But I fundamentally believe that all flourishing is mutual, and that if humans take too much to the detriment of the deer people or the oak people, we all suffer. And if colonial countries take from colonized countries, we all suffer. And so I call on my fellow humans to pause and reflect, to recognize that we are all people, and that if we seek to flourish, we must recognize that all flourishing is mutual.