ACCEPTING YOUR OWN PREJUDICE

I grew up in what was a small town on the Taieri Plains.

Its population was about two thousand people and down the road where we lived the tar seal on the road stopped just before our place, the footpaths were just dust tracks, and the drainage was a channel down the side of the road.

Like I said it was small town New Zealand where everybody knew who you were and what your parents were.

I say what and who because my father while not the town drunk, was like a lot of other men of that era, would join up with the daily six o clock swill before the bars closed for the day.

He would then come home full after the quick alcohol and mum and dad would have their nightly disagreement, later the cops arrived to sort it out or take Dad down to the station for the night to sober up. Really, it was no different to many homes of the era.

But that is not what defined us as a family, it was the uniform we as kids were forced to wear which made us stand out as different.

You see we attended the local catholic school; it was my dad who was catholic, mum wasn’t but Dad promised the priest at the time of the marriage we would grow up as catholic, attend a catholic school, go to mass every Sunday, you know the drill.

Being different, standing out, made life hell on earth as the school was on the other side of town and to get there, we had to walk past two state-run schools.

I can still hear the taunting from some of the kids when we passed by, they would sing this derogatory rhyme, “Catholic Dogs, stink like frogs, in their mothers bathing togs.”

Thing is, it didn’t worry me, the singing, it was the abuse, the bullying, and the beatings we took for being different.

I was used to violence, degradation, being the butt of someone else’s prejudice, so when later in life I was called a “redneck” by a woman I was having a conversation regarding homosexuality.

Obviously, I was disagreeing with her stance which was making her angry, when she told me I was a homophobe, which was it. I decided to question the descriptions she was calling me.

To call me homophobic meant nothing as I examined my own conscience and decided I had no phobia towards those who practiced sodomy.

Today we have so many people attempting to cause divisions in our society, look, I don’t know about you, but I am struggling to keep up with who is who and should I be opposed to this or agree with that viewpoint.

A couple of years ago Green MP Chloe Swarbrick used the word “boomer” when referring to Nationals Todd Muller, when they were debating in parliament.

To be fair, boomer is a term which refers to my generation, but in the heat of the debate to use the term in Parliament was wrong, disrespectful.

You see insults and name calling are okay in certain places and venues, but Parliament isn’t one of them.

Being a part of that boomer generation, we never went home and cried on anyone’s shoulders about being told we were dogs, we had stunk like mums bathing togs, because we would get no sympathy.

It would be toughened up or “sticks and stones may break your bones and names will never hurt you.”

And yet today, several generations on we are so easily offended.

Today’s culture is full of hate and when I say hate, I mean hate.

Back in my day it was okay to call a Māori, a Māori, many had nicknames like “darky”, and they were acceptable to the people at the time. It was a name, there was never any ill feeling about it.

Other kids were called sonny, sonny Jim, shorty, Lankey, fatty, skinny, look no one cared but today’s generation get off their precious bikes and start wringing their hands, saying we are degrading them, being hurtful to whom we are directing the name to.

We referred to one of the greatest all time singers Frank Sinatra as “old Blue eyes” and the group of other singers as the “Rat Pack.” No one took offense.

You probably have, everyone has a friend who is referred to by another name, get a group of guys who have been together on a fishing charter and see who doesn’t come off the boat without a new name.

So, what’s all this about?

Is it about being bullied, is it about name calling or even being degraded, well it’s none of those.

It’s understanding and an acceptance of our own prejudices.

Try not to look so stunned we all have them.

Today, like yesterday we all are suffering some form of persecution even here in New Zealand and the thing is we are all guilty of some type of persecution or prejudice.

Don’t believe me? Let me ask you did you laugh when the Indians landed on the moon, and someone suggest they were looking for a new site for a corner dairy? Or laugh at the meme of the rocket ship arriving with hundreds of Indians hanging on the side, like they do the trains.

Maybe there was some other group where a joke was made about a different group of people and they laughed or were you guilty of being the storyteller?

We all have an unconscious bias towards other people, other groups, some unlike in my day are loud about it while others quietly agree.

The current situation in the Middle East is an interesting one.

On both sides you have people who want the same thing, a place to call home and the problem is they both want the same thing, but have you noticed how nuts people are becoming?

Yes, I am a Christian and have a love for Israel, equally I am a Christian who has a love for people regardless of whether they are different.

And I admit I am torn over the Palestinian/Israeli predicament, where one man’s freedom fighter is a terrorist to another man and vice versa dependent upon which side you are on and how it affects you.

Yes, I was tormented as child daily for daring to be different, many young people today are still being tormented for being different but instead of using sticks and stones rifles grenades rockets and tanks we use something more potent, more devastating; we use the smallest muscle we have and that my friends are our tongues.

I have to say it, but the way we use our tongues needs to be reined in big time.
Words are easy to say, words when directed like arrows are hard to takeback.

Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words used to express hatred, incite violence, to divide race, to cause harm, they all hurt, they always have.

The Bible book of James we read Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,

Many today ae angry, angry with the government, the world, with themselves and they need to vent their anger and they do.

Many are quick to be angered and we can rightly be so, but then there are those who are just angry, but can’t explain why.

The kids from the state schools who referred to us a Catholic Dogs didn’t understand why they persecuted you, but they did it as they mirrored prejudice of generations before them.

It didn’t affect me as I grew older, instead it made me stronger, more resilient in life for those who disagree with my viewpoint.

Jesus himself was subjected to racial discrimination, to hatred, to abuse, to violence, rejected by those closest to him, by his mates, and yet when all seemed lost, he uttered the words,

Forgive them father for they do not know what they have done.

The middle East situation Palestine or Israel, I prefer not to take sides because I can see both sides, the Australian One Voice, I can see both sides, New Zealand’s race issues, I can see both sides, can I see a solution, just one.

We should all learn to live with each other, I know it’s easy said than done but the words from Proverbs 11 will help going forward “whoever derides their neighbour has no sense, but the one who has understanding holds their tongue.”

Understanding who we are, understanding why we are here, understanding why your brother is here, and Understanding who God is will help us to live according to his will and purpose for our lives.

It will enable us to appreciate his love, grace, and mercy towards us.

Understanding who God is will inspire us to worship him in spirit and in truth, and to share his gospel with others.”