Differences Between People:

People are born with natural tendencies towards being shy or outgoing, clever, musically inclined, strong, short, solid or slender, etc.  We as a whole are closer to Utopia when we as individuals are able to rise above our distrust or dislike of others who are not like we are.  This is not something that just happens.  It is something that each person has to realize, understand, practice at and put into practice.  A key to this is understanding our neighbors -- intelligent people have the ability to imagine their interactions with less intelligent people from an abstract point of view and recognize when they are "not suffering fools gladly"; it is their duty to treat others with the dignity and compassion they deserve without being condescending.  Conversely, less intelligent people are usually aware when they are "in over their heads", and they need to have social awareness of the best way to get their need or point across and that they might be slowing things down; yet they have a right to keep their dignity as the world moves by them faster than they are able to keep up.

Another key to this may be found in how some are musically inclined while others are not able to carry a tune.  The music makers are quite happy to provide music for the others, who in turn are quite happy to enjoy the music, even if they don't directly participate.  This is a win win situation because the providers get joy by giving of themselves as they perform, and the audience gets joy in listening.

We start losing Utopia when we revert to antagonistic attitudes because of our abilities or lack of them.  We owe it to ourselves as a gathered civilization of social beings to celebrate the best in one another.  The athletically inclined child who imposes himself over his frail classmate may find himself at the mercy of that same person later in life.  Thinking of this as karma may be cliché, but the cliche did not arise in a vacuum.

Acting in concert with others cannot be legislated.  It is something that needs to be learned.  It is one of our challenges to accomplish this by instilling in everyone a desire to be that way as opposed to demanding good behavior under threat of retaliation.  Probably the best place to learn this is as children, when we are most open to new ideas and most willing to accept others.  Children can be astoundingly brutal to one another as well, and it is the cycle of brutality that needs to be diffused.
 
 

 
Assumptions for Utopia
Possibilities for Utopia
Dialog
Home
Email me: [email protected]