One Of The Reasons For Why Our Nation Is So Divided

 One of the best, if not the best, quotes from Martin Luther King Jr. is below. It was part of his speech/sermon against the Vietnam War:

'The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just'

Now if we replace the word 'Western' with a fill-in-the-blank, we get an idea of why we are so divided in this nation:

'The ______ arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just'

According to the above modified quote, the reason why America is so divided is that we Americans have an abundance of arrogance. I say an abundance because there are quite a few individuals and groups that believe that they have everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them. And the more ideological a people becomes, the more vulnerable they are to succumb to such an arrogance of feeling. Also we should note that this arrogance of feeling has crossed all ideological lines quite some time ago.

But perhaps there is something else involved here in addition to, or even a part of, that arrogance of feeling. After all, just think of what one must know to actually have all of the answers to the major economical, political, or social issues in our world. To know all of the answers would be attribute which we would more likely to associate with God, not people.

Just perhaps some of that arrogance is an exhibition of compensation, or overcompensation to be precise. And what could be driving the need to compensate or even overcompensate? It could be an overcompensation for feeling a lack of significance. It could be an overcompensation for having been looked down on, or having experienced marginalization, or, in the case of my fellow religiously conservative Christians, having suffered a massive loss of status in society while believing that we are special or better than others. And thus to feel significant, one dreams of astounding others with one's own or their group's abilities. In this case, that ability would be discovering or having the right beliefs that allows them to possess all of the answers to a certain set of political, economical, or social problems which a nation or the world needs.

To argue with facts and logic with someone who is seeking to feel significant can easily be counterproductive. That is because as the facts and logic challenges a given person's ideology, it is threatening their personal sense of significance. And so challenging such a person's ideology can easily be perceived as a threat by that person. 

Now that is as far as my mind can take me on this subject. That is because I am still stuck at the stage of arguing with a such a person using only facts and logic. I don't know enough about how to address issues without challenging a person's sense of significance. 

But what I can ascertain here is that with all of the divisions we currently have in our nation, feeling insignificant might be at endemic levels in our nation. I am sure that there are a multitude of reasons for why many feel insignificant. And why a person or group feels insignificant must be studied on a case by case basis.

And so perhaps the next time any of us get into a heated debate where the other person acts as if they, their ideology, their religion, or whatever else enables them to believe that they have all of the answers, consider what their beliefs say about them. For people are partially like stars. By that I don't mean that people are bright. And I am certainly referring to the fact that some people are full of gas. 

What I am referring to is what we see when we see stars in the sky. Yes, we see light. But in terms of time, what do we see? We see the past.

So when we see or hear people, we are seeing their pasts. But because people are only partially like stars, we see more than people's pasts; we see their present too. And deciphering what is reflecting a person's past from observing their present behavior and words is not an easy task and is filled with opportunities to make errors. But this fact that our words and behaviors can reveal our pasts should temper our reactions to what they say or do with which we strongly disagree.

Just suffice it to say that feel insignificant seems to be endemic in our society. That could be the result of our lifestyles. It could be the result of our own values. It could be the result of the values of our society and/or culture. It could be the result of our nation's history. And it could be the result of our own past. And so no matter how strongly  with which disagree with someone, we must not talk down to them or act as if we are superior. We must not do that, but of course we all will at times.