Other

Individuals who have not had any kind of meaningful contact with the “other,” can easily come to see the “other” in only stereotypical terms. And this is just a step away from the “other” becoming a source of fear and of the loss of privilege.

We spend too much time on divisive issues around race, ethnicity and class when the real focus should be on character and civil virtues. Human dichotomies such as generous/greedy, good-hearted/selfish, gentle/violent, honorable/deceitful go across all boundaries of race, ethnicity and class.

So this is where our energy should go, to building good character and rewarding it wherever we see it, beyond the oppositional forces that seem only to divide us more.