As I thought of the title of the event (and the difference between the names of the two Task Forces) it occurred to me that it is a good thing to have something to be for, not just to be against things. Of course, we are against bigotry, prejudice, and hate. And for a long time we have been for tolerance (but that sounds almost grudging) and brotherhood (although the word can seem sexist now, and I don't know of a suitable gender-neutral equivalent). But respect is a very good word for what we want. So in my remarks I noted that respect can serve as both an antidote and a preventive for bigotry and hate.
The principal speaker was a high school girl who has written a book about bullying, and she made the excellent point that respect doesn't necessarily mean approval. We can respect people of different faiths without agreeing with their religion. We can respect people of different orientations without approving of their lifestyle choices. When we respect people, we acknowledge that they have a right to be different from us both in things they cannot choose, such as ethnicity and country of origin, and in things that they can decide, such as religion and way of life.
I've been on my town's Task Force since it was created twenty years ago. A couple of years after it was formed, someone suggested that we should explicitly include sexual orientation as one of the bases of discrimination which we should oppose. At that time I thought that such a statement would imply official approval of same-sex sexual activity, and got them not to include it. But over the years I have come to realize that, for one thing there would be no implied approval, and second , there is so much unjustified discrimination and so much violence against gays, that it makes sense to include orientation along with religion, ethnicity, national origin, and sex as things on which there should be no discrimination. So I did not object this year when a proclamation was drafted for the Selectmen in honor of our anniversary and it included orientation. And the speaker on Sunday clarified the point very nicely for me.
And I had the further thought that we must even extend respect to the bigots and racists if we are ever to break through their hatred and bring them in to the community.
4 comments:
I very much like the twist of "having something to be for". And much like other things like trust, respect also have to be earned by living a dignified life, amongst other things.
"It's a good thing to have something to be FOR, not just to be against things" - true. But in a sense, doesn't being AGAINST something logically lead to being FOR something (the opposite)?
Anyway, just a minor point. But either way, its a great thing to have - I've never heard of anything like that here in the NJ area (we've got the AVP in NYC, but solely focused on the city). It seems like a worthwhile thing - is there some sort of umbrella or parent organization for this?
And very true about the respect -vs- approval issue. If only common decency and respect would be the first response people have to differenes, rather than the typical disrespect, hatred, bigotry, and so forth.
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Thanks for the comments, guys.
@ RC — I think we earn an extra measure of respect by living a good life, but I also think that our common humanity means that we all owe one another a basic level of respect.
@ Seth — logically, you are right that being against this implies being for that. But I think it can happen that we don't talk enough about what we are for.
And I think we overcome and prevent bigotry as much by presenting a positive vision as by denouncing evil. The bigot or potential bigot is less likely to be moved by finding people in explicit opposition than by being invited to be part of a community of people who get along with one another. There is no cure-all, but we can try to make things better.
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