Politicians… West Virginians… illegals… Muslims… vegetarians… football players… Do particular images or thoughts come to mind when you hear some of these terms? We commonly categorize people in our thoughts and conversations. Especially if we don’t know anyone on a personal level who fits into a particular category, it’s easy to develop the stereotypes, whether reasonable or not.
Sometimes categorization is done for humor. It has been a while since I heard a “blonde joke,” but I’ve laughed at my fair share of them. Most of them haven’t hurt anyone’s feelings and have been pretty harmless, although, on second thought, the way they were presented when I was in high school may have been more hurtful than I realized.
I’ve worked in animal agriculture for quite a few years. From within the industry, it feels like there are a lot of public campaigns and attacks that try to convince people not to eat meat or other animal products. As a result, it is easy to develop a sentiment that vegetarians, and other such groups of people that try to avoid animal products, are the bad guys. It feels only fair to bash on them. I’ve been guilty of making negative comments about vegetarians. At the same time, I have plenty of friends and even family members who are vegetarians. There are a wide variety of reasons why they are vegetarian. I’ve gradually come to the place where I at least try to understand an individual’s situation and stance. We should appreciate that everyone has the opportunity to choose what they do or don’t want to eat, right?
The shift I’ve made in career focus over the past year or so has prompted me to think more about terms such as “illegals.” We hear about “illegals” all of the time and don't even have to clarify which lawbreakers we are referring to, but I’ve become increasingly sensitive to how negative this term is. Basically, anyone who is categorized this way sounds like a bad person before they even a chance to tell their story. Most of the time we don’t even know who around us fits into this category. It certainly shouldn't apply to refugees, since they all have proper documents and are welcomed by the government to reside and work in the U.S. Through conversation, I might learn that a particular person I cross paths with fits the "illegal" category, but I still have to wrestle with the reality that they might have reached a point in their life when they didn’t have any good alternatives and had to move forward with what seemed to be the best option for them and their family, whether risky or not.
I used to be uncomfortable with Muslims. Islam felt very contrary to my Christianity, and world news helped me conjure a picture in my mind of mostly bad things connected to Muslims. I would not have hesitated to openly criticize Muslims as a category of people. My perspective has changed over the past couple of years as I have developed a number of neat friendships with Muslims from a wide variety of countries. They work hard, they often make me laugh (in a good way), they are incredibly kind, they enjoy food and tea at least as much as I do, and they have all sorts of interesting stories. Some of them also love to talk about religious things. I’ve been able to engage in interesting discussions with my Muslim friends about religious issues, recognizing similarities and having friendly conversation about differences. It is often easier to have a religious conversation with them than with a lot of the other people around me in society.
Categories can be helpful. They can also be hurtful. I’m learning to think and speak less about people in broad categories, rather, to remember the individuality of people. I don’t want to make negative comments towards particular groups if they aren’t fair, accurate, or loving. I ask myself, does it really need to be said? Will it potentially have negative repercussions?
May the words of my mouth be pleasing. Lord, help me to love people, remembering each one of them was made in your image, and not cause harm with my tongue.
There are a lot of difficult issues around the topics of refugees and immigration. It feels risky to bring them up in a public context, but I believe they are important to talk about. My desire is to share some of the things I am learning on this blog, recognizing I have much more to learn and understand. This is not simply for the sake of expressing my opinions, but for the purpose of healthy conversation. I would love to hear your thoughts and receive correction where necessary.
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