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Confession

 


I have a confession to make. I have racism inside me. Also, sexism, greed, selfishness, lust. All the seven deadly sins and then some. Here is another secret: you have all of that too. It is human nature to look out for number one, to be selfish. It is human nature to be prejudice for your own tribe and against all other tribes. “Tribe” can be race, religion, social class, political party, country, school, etc.

What makes a person moral is not the absence of these feelings, since we all have them. What makes a person moral is your ability to set them aside, to choose compassion over prejudice and greed. It is the same with courage. What makes a person brave is not the absence of fear, but doing the right thing in spite of being afraid. In the words of Captain Kirk in the Star Trek episode “A taste of Armageddon” when confronted with someone telling him that they are all killers, he replies, “All right. It’s instinctive, but the instinct can be fought. We’re human beings with the blood of a million savage years on our hands. But we can stop it. We can admit that we’re killers, but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes. Knowing that we’re not going to kill . . . today.”

I know that some people are born into a racist family. That makes it more difficult to feel compassion, to see the worth of others. But it is still a choice. The fact that you have bad thoughts and bad tendencies is not an excuse for bad behavior. You can’t say “I couldn’t help it.” You could help it. We all have a choice. We can give in to selfishness and racism, or we can choose to fight against it. Whatever choice you make determines what kind of person you are.

Some choices are not black and white. There is ambiguity in the world. It is not always easy to know what is the right thing to do. But when you feel prejudice in your heart, when you make a decision against someone just because they are “other,” that should be a red flag. That is your ancient programing talking to you. Go against that programing and you advance the human race one notch.

Star Liner

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