"Not one tower does my country have, not one roof, But for home and city, the entire earth lies at my disposition for a dwelling."
-Crates of Thebes
Tribalism is the behaviour and/or attitude that stems from strong loyalty to one's tribe or social group and a belief in superiority over others.
Tribalism is not new to today’s society, it has been the cause of wars and conflicts for we’ll over a Millenia. But
surely we as a modern society have outgrown that primitive behaviour, well except for with sports teams, or politics, or religion, or star trek vs. Star wars...
Tribalism has never gone away and just because we are not all Hatfield's and McCoys that doesn't make it any less dangerous. But what does tribalism have to do with Crates quote, or us for that matter?
If Crates of Thebes saw this problem with tribalism I don’t know but I do know is he was a wealthy man willing to rid himself of all his possessions in order to never see himself as better than his neighbour. He then became a man with no country, no tribe. Instead, the world became his tribe and everyone in it his brother, his sister, his neighbour.
Now I’m not suggesting that everyone quit their jobs, renounce their citizenship and become van lifers. But it is helpful to remember that if you take away the guard towers we are all one people or raze every roof and we all live under the same sky. The things that divide us also destroy us.
At the end of the day whether we use logic or the force we all have the same basic needs, the same basic desires and any perceived differences are just that "perceived". It is our job to manage those perceptions and see our neighbours as ourselves rather than others.
This is no easy task and only seems to be getting harder but that is exactly why it's is more important than ever. So I challenge you to spend time each day learning another point of view and honestly trying to understand it. You don't have to agree but as Andrea Reed said...
" with knowledge comes understanding, and with understanding comes the power to change lives and the compassion to help heal."
We can all agree this world needs some healing.
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