"Our Daily Blog" #7
Updated: May 28, 2020
By Dr. Gloria Latimore-Peace
1 Corinthians 13:2 For now I see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known.
The "windows of opportunity" through which the world is perceived are common, run-of-the-mill windows. However, what is seen may be entirely unrelated to who or what is being viewed. For what is sighted “out there" is almost entirely a function of the perception of the viewers. In other words, the objects seen by the viewers are projected-from the viewers and, therefore they, may be identified as the viewers own "inventions".
History is replete with the accounts of men who are known to have peered, surreptitiously, through the windows of their neighbors in neighborhoods all over the world. These were the "Peeping Toms"who saw not their fellow-men, but "Opportunities". Their way of looking at the world, obviously did not contain the "love thy neighbor" or "thou shalt not covet" axioms. This is the world view that initiated the process of colonizing so much of the world, including the indigenous people of Africa, who once wore the pseudonyms “negro"[1] and "slave". The figments of the imagination of "the Quality"[2] were also applied to the "Native Americans" who were the Algonquin, Choctaw, Navajo, Iroquois, et al, before Columbus ”discovered" them in their homes on Turtle Island.[3]
It isn't hard to determine which came first, these "Opportunists" or their "opportunities". For the "opportunities" didn't exist until the former showed up and promptly began redefining, in their own image, the people, places and things that had long ago preceded them. And, although their transgressions were usually premeditated, "natural" disasters also paved the way for their “crimes of opportunity". "Katrina" was falsely reported to have been responsible for converting the New Orleanian "citizens of color" into so-called "refugees", while "Maria" was alleged to have created the same problem for the U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico. However, the "benign neglect"[4] that was present before, during, and after these and other historical events is still proving to be an obstacle to the recovery of our fellow-men, women and children.
History is repeating itself in the COVID-19 Pandemic, which is yet another example of the Flu/pneumonia correlation. This is unmistakably caused by the perpetuation of the overt neglect that has graduated from "benign" to malignant. That paradigm, which has plagued "the Tasked"[5] for centuries, must be shifted, not only because it is unjust, but also because it represents an escalation of "man's inhumanity to man". We must be mindful of the lessons of history as we await the reopening of "business-as-usual".
Together, we must look out of our window- not as an artificial, "nuclear family"- but, as a group of people who share the same values, i.e., a community. Together, we must carefully plan for the survival of our whole human family of which each kinship group is a part. It has been said that “Where there is no vision, the people perish..." (Proverbs 29:18). As we build for eternity, our vision must be based on a way of life, i.e., a culture, that values people over property as well as the group over the "I"ndividual.
First and foremost, we must re-member that the purpose of an institution is to serve the people. And we must never forget that the institutions are in the people- the living, the dead, and the yet unborn. Therefore, we must re-claim our Ancestors, ourSelves, and our children- those who live among us as well as those in the Ancestral realm who are still to become. To lesser men, this transformation may seem like a tall order, but not for a People who are "fearfully and wonderfully made"(Psalm 139:14), "in the image and after the likeness" of our Maker, and given "dominion over all the earth"(Genesis 1:26).
By now, we should have come to know not only who we are but Whose we are, i.e., the descendants of those to whom it was said: Mark 11:23 For verily I say unto you that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Hotep, Shalom, As Salamu Alaykum, Namaste, Peace.
Footnotes
[1] "The Invention of the Negro" by Earl Conrad. [2] "The Water Dancer" by Ta-Nahesi Coates. [3] Turtle Island is a name for the earth based on a Creation myth of the native inhabitants who are now erroneously referred to as “Native Americans". [4] "Benign neglect”, a policy of "municipal disinvestment" (circa 1969), ostensibly aimed at Negros, that was proposed by Daniel P. Moynihan to Pres. Richard Nixon. [5] op cit. Coates.