Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Paula Schramm, who lives in Enosburg Falls.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
In my view, the basic element of human nature is this: We care about each other and we have an intrinsic ability to cooperate with each other and to work together.
I’ve been wanting to write some thoughts inspired by the ongoing debate on health care in our state, when a horrible event changed my mind. It made me zero in to the heart of what I wanted to say. My point is about this: What President Obama was trying to do, and what Vermont is trying to do in developing Green Mountain Care, is all about making the decision to take care of one another. It is a moral commitment that all good societies make — to work for the public good, and to care about each other. Everyone has different ideas about how to best do that, but at the heart of it we make the moral and ethical choice, as our Constitution puts it, to “promote the general welfare … to ourselves and our posterity.” To me, this IS what “liberty and justice for all” is about.
But a lot can get in the way of us expressing our true nature. One of the biggest obstacles by far is fear. The title of a memorable movie has always stayed with me. It was called “Fear Eats the Soul.”
This was the horrible event : On the Sunday of Aug. 5, a man caught up in fear and hatred entered a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisc., as people gathered in the morning to prepare for prayers, and started shooting. As people fled, and hid, his rampage killed six people and wounded three critically. A policeman trying to help a wounded person was critically wounded, while another policeman was able to shoot and kill the attacker. This was only two weeks after the killing of 12 people and wounding of 58 in Aurora, Colo. It was the 61st mass shooting since Gabby Giffords was shot and six others killed in Tucson, Ariz., two years ago.
I’m not focusing on guns in themselves, for the moment. Canadians famously have as many guns as Americans, but far, far, fewer shooting deaths. Why do you suppose that is? Why have we become such a fearful, paranoid society?
This particular horror touched me deeply, because I have good friends in Kenya who are Sikhs, and I’ve learned a lot about this wonderful religion. It is the fifth largest religion in the world, with 25 million people. There are 700,000 American Sikhs. It was founded five centuries ago in an area of India constantly under attack, first by invading Mongols, then by Hindu warlords. The hard-working peasants and tradesmen finally came together and fought back, becoming excellent warriors defending their farms and families.
Why are we still so racist and why do we tolerate the growing poverty in our country? Why do we tend to blame the poor for everything, and allow ourselves to be “divided and conquered”? What keeps us from demanding of the rich that they contribute their fair share in our faltering economy? If we could look at these problems squarely and address them, we might have less frustration, fear and anger driving us to reach for a gun. We might begin to take better care of each other.
There are three tenets of their religion: There is one God, all people are equal, and we are meant to do good in the world.
Treating everyone as equal was counter to the caste system in Hinduism at the time, where people of lower caste could not eat with the upper castes. When I went on safaris with my friends, we would stop on our long trips to eat lunch at a Sikh temple. Part of their religious practice is to welcome travelers, feed them, and give them lodging, all for free. People from the congregation donate food, and volunteer in turn to prepare food as part of their community service. This was one of the highlights of our trips, because the food was delicious! It didn’t matter who you were, or what your religion was. We always left a small donation, but it was not required. The Sikhs I met were open, friendly, self-reliant and skilled.They are the best mechanics, good farmers, engineers and entrepreneurs. Sikh labor and skill helped build the famous East African railway that secured the economic viability of British colonial expansion in East Africa.The turbans and beards of Sikh men are important external symbols of the principles they live by.
Sikhs are mistaken for Muslims, and are included, as are Muslims, in the thoughtless persecution many in our society have wreaked on those they imagine are “terrorists.” Just four days after 9/11 a man in Arizona shot and killed a Sikh man at his garage. Sikhs have immigrated to the U.S. as much as a century ago, and have, as most immigrants do, faced discrimination. But occurrences of hate-based attacks have doubled since 9/11. Just six months ago, two Sikh men out walking were shot and killed in Sacramento, Calif., in a hate crime.
To think that yet another mentally troubled person, or white supremacist blinded by fear-based hate, can easily act out the fear that permeates our society, is a sickening and horrifying reality. Fear is used in the most cynical, evil way by wealthy elites to manipulate us politically. We need to take a good close look at how frightened we all act and sound. Why are we still so racist and why do we tolerate the growing poverty in our country? Why do we tend to blame the poor for everything, and allow ourselves to be “divided and conquered”? What keeps us from demanding of the rich that they contribute their fair share in our faltering economy? If we could look at these problems squarely and address them, we might have less frustration, fear and anger driving us to reach for a gun. We might begin to take better care of each other.
And what about the victims of this particular horror show? They’ve had reason to feel fearful for a long time. One journalist described the scene that afternoon after the shooting. People of the congregation had begun to organize themselves and were distributing food and water to all the policemen and reporters, and even to the onlookers that had gathered around the temple.
They were refusing to participate in this culture of fear. As Sikhs, they were responding with love and compassion, and using that deep connection with people to create something positive.
They were taking care of everyone.
