Who
Am I?
I first published this blog, below, on August 9, 2013.
Some of you may recall. I am publishing it again because I think its message is
so important to understand. Today, our people as a nation are the most
polarized we have ever been since the Civil War—all due, in part, to the
differences in our world views, our perceptions of events, our character—the
most important issue, in my opinion, currently facing the leader(s) of our
nation. That blog is as follows.
Who am I? Who are you? For that
matter, who are we? I’ve been thinking about this for a long time and have
developed a theory. I’ll share it with you and see what you think. Let’s
suspose—I know; the little red line just came up on my computer, telling me I misspelled
the word, suppose. In passing, let me explain that I have this very dear
friend, a lawyer, whom, over the years, I have come to love and respect very
much. He’s from Georgia; and, when discussing or explaining an issue, he likes
to say, “Let’s suspose……..”. So, therefore, please forgive my digression and
indulge me while we suspose.
Beginning at the very beginning, let’s
suspose that for every unborn individual there is, somewhere in Heaven, an
individual spirit just waiting his turn to be born. For the sake of
illustration, let us imagine in our mind’s eye, that spirit as a glass of
water, clear, pure, and transparent–with no color whatsoever, either in the
glass or the water—it’s perfect. Now, along comes a man and a woman who each, respectively,
drop a sperm and an egg into the water. The sperm fertilizes the egg and they,
combining their respective genomes, become one, the beginning of a person–the
water in the glass becomes slightly colored. The “glass of water with the egg”
spends nine months in the woman’s womb, the experience of which slightly
changes the color of the water.
Then the baby is born, coming from the
warmth and comfort of the womb into a cold and not so comfortable world. Again,
the color of the water is changed. We now have a new human being with his own
DNA, looks, physical condition, personality, and character–the color of his
water. But, we can’t stop here, can we. Life goes on.
Next comes the nurture of the new
baby. He may either be breast fed or bottle fed, diapered and changed. He is
affected by every aspect of his environment down to the smallest: the volume
and tone of the voices around him, language, temperature, light, darkness, and
on and on and on. He is constantly learning–from what he hears and perceives
even more so than from what he is told. Every effect lends itself to the ever
changing color of his water–his character. The baby is constantly learning to
walk, to talk, to speak, to read. He becomes educated. He grows up, and he
continues to grow mentally and physically until he is finally a mature person
with his very own personality and character–his very own color of water. Let us
suspose the color of his water is now yellow. That is our new person, you or
me.
To help us understand further, let us
suspose there are two more persons with their glasses of water. Their beginnings,
their environments, their nurtures, their experiences, their exposures, and
their educations–all these in one way, to one extent, or another (most probably
even in the womb) are different. In our susposition, we now have three persons,
three distinctly different characters, three colors of water–let’s say red,
yellow, and blue.
It has been said that we are all three
persons. We are how we see ourselves; we are how others see us; and we are as
God sees us. You don’t have to agree with me, but think about this for a
moment. Let’s suspose the person in the glass with the yellow water is talking
to the person in the glass with the blue water, what does he see? I submit to you, he sees himself as yellow,
and he sees the other as green. I further submit to you that, when the person
in the glass with the red water looks at the person in the glass with the blue
water, he sees himself as red and the other as purple. Now, let’s ask one last
question, and I’ll quit. When the person in the glass with the yellow water is
talking to the person in the glass with the red water about the person in the
glass with the blue water, how will they view each other’s perception of that
guy in the blue water?
Who
am I? Who are you? Who are we? What color is your water? Let ‘suspose.
Ronald
Miller
mtss86@comcast.net
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