We all know what a time waster surfing the internet can be yet, occasionally, something pops up which illustrates a truth, simply but profoundly. Sometime during the past year, I came upon such a story. It goes something like this.
Somewhere in the U.S., a middle-aged man is standing in the checkout line at a grocery store. Behind him, a young woman is having a quiet conversation on her cellphone. As the line inches forward, the man hears snatches of the woman’s conversation and realizes she is not speaking English. When she finishes talking and puts her phone away, the man turns to her and says, “You know, this is America.”
“I beg your pardon?” the young woman replies in a confused manner.
“This is America,” the man repeats. “We speak English here. If you want to speak Spanish, you should go back to Mexico.”
“Sir,” the young woman answers. “I was speaking Navajo. If you want to speak English, you should go back to England.”
The story needs no elaboration. And yet. . . we have leaders in this country today, all of whom are descendants of immigrants, who are deliberately stoking the fires of fear and hatred against those who are recent immigrants to this once-welcoming country. And, of course, this newest group of people are almost exclusively brown and black. It is chilling to hear those in positions of authority talk about how these immigrants, legal or not, are “polluting” our bloodlines.
Over 160 years ago, Baha’u’llah told us that “the world is one country and mankind its citizens.” If that concept sounds foreign or perhaps naively optimistic to you, imagine how it sounded in the mid-19th century! However, the Baha’i Writings tell us that we’ve been moving through different degrees of unity throughout history – from family, to tribe, to city-state, to nation, etc., and that the next step is the unification of the planet. A statement from the Baha’i International Community puts it this way: “Human society has reached a new stage of maturity. The forces of change in the world today reflect part of an organic process of social evolution leading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race into a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet.”
This process is, of course, in its infancy and will take many generations to come to fruition. The actions we take today, however, can either aid or retard it.
Baha’is assert that we will grow into the reality of a united world because it is divinely ordained and has always been part of God’s plan for his creation. As we know, though, God’s creatures have not always been cooperative with his plan as revealed successively through his messengers such as Moses, Jesus, Mohammed and Baha’u’llah. We tend to cling stubbornly to our old ways, even when those ways no longer serve us.
Speaking about peace which, of course, is both an outcome of and a prerequisite for a united world, the Baha’i Universal House of Justice told us some years ago, “Whether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors precipitated by humanity’s stubborn clinging to old patterns of behavior, or is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is a choice before all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the intractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common concern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and disorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.”
Right now, it appears we’re headed toward those “unimaginable horrors,” and that, indeed, may turn out to be the case. However, I believe with all my heart that the number of those desiring peace and unity is far greater than those who benefit from stirring up strife and creating false divisions among God’s children.
I believe that people of faith – all faiths – will stand together to reaffirm what we’ve all been taught: (again in the words of the Universal House of Justice) that “the virtues which befit human dignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and loving-kindness towards all peoples.”
When we strive to manifest these qualities in our own lives and insist on leaders who struggle, however imperfectly, to do the same, we will be taking a step away from those “unimaginable horrors” and a step toward the fulfillment of our destiny.
Nancy Flood-Golembeck is a retired teacher and longtime member of the Baha’i faith. In addition to serving on the local Baha’i governing body, she is currently writing a memoir.
