Letters To Mankind - Us And Them

My Dear Fellowman

Today I am writing you about our differences. They are many. Nature seems to have a gift for variety. We all adapt to our respective climates, both social and environmental. There appears to be a gradation of talents and deficits distributed between us to varying degrees, as well as the natural resources at our disposal. We all fall somewhere along the spectrum of enlightenment, evolution, and progress. Our points of origin are spattered, giving rise to many often conflicting vantage points. Tension and competition exists between all living things, even those of the same species, same family. I think it is unrealistic, naive perhaps, to believe that complete harmony is achievable as long as nature sees fit to use conflict as a means of improving upon her creation.

Though your unique experience is largely foreign to me, and mine to you, I have grown to respect your will to live, your tenacious hold on your values, your devotion to your family, and your passion for self expression. Though I have the deepest disdain for some of your beliefs and customs, I have the utmost respect for your right to believe as you wish. Though the means by which we govern our own is mutually exclusive, it is incumbent upon all to protect human life and dignity everywhere. And though I lay claim to the land in which I dwell and all it's resources, as do you with yours, surely there is something we can barter, buy and sell to our mutual benefit. And sooner or later we will be compelled to relax our borders and explore the world together. We both realize that our greatest resource is knowledge, which is also our greatest defense and offense when necessary, but belongs to no one and everyone. With that in mind, we have only our mutual promise not to harm each other without provocation or withhold from each other the knowledge necessary to survive.

It has become clear to me that as we both evolve and expand our horizons and strive to meet our respective needs, we cannot ignore each other, nor extinguish each other's rights. So in the interest of self-preservation and well-being, our least common denominator, the best way to protect our rights, our property, our loved ones, and our posterity, is to be invested in each other's preservation and well being. We do that by relying on each other's word, integrating our communities, and helping to solve each other's problems. For there is no benefit in malice.

Yours Truly
Sef

Sef is publisher and writer of the blog The Velvet Spot: http://www.velvetspot.com This article and a variety of others can be found on the blog.