Interruption of Assumption

We are absolute experts in generalization. While sitting at the first red light of the day, we think about how the rest of the stoplights we encounter on our commute are probably going to do the same. The young woman who's been in an abusive and manipulative relationship with a man will often leap to the belief going forward that this is just how men are. Men are scum...none are worth my respect. We see some failed financial situations in our immediate family and think, "Well, everybody's broke. What's the point in financial planning? I'll be broke like everyone else. Give me another credit card!"

The generalities that form our stereotypes in our cultural lens are so ingrained from the gradual, suggestive socialization we undergo, that there's no avoiding the fact that we have prejudices beneath the surface. 

This week generalities have once again come bursting back to life and course through the veins of the media. Cops are dirty and racist. Black people are worth our suspicion whenever crime is in the air. If someone got shot it was probably a mistake in judgment or a flat out hate crime. If someone uploads a video to Facebook that's streaming from the middle of an incident, and is narrating themselves in the heat of the moment to their phone camera, it must be a reliable account. All black people riot or become violent when other black Americans die. No Whites respond in such despicable ways. 

We take the singular thing and we choose along with it the path of least resistance for analysis: to apply our judgment of it to ALLLLLL similar situations (and even the non-similar ones). It's lazy and hazardous, but it's human nature.

Generalities, and the assumptions that produce them, make up so much of the reality we perceive in our world. When "perception is reality" (maybe you've heard that expression), a conditioned response is expected from anyone and everyone not choosing to pause and give a second thought. This is the vicious cycle we have going on in our world nowadays. 

How can this cycle be broken?? In the midst of yet another tragic shooting in a routine pullover, and yet another outburst of outrage towards others who merely represent someone responsible for the outrage, including more police officers dead around our country, breaking this cycle seems impossible. 

I think the only real change that ever happens is the kind that happens between two people in a singular interaction. That dynamic seems so insignificant because it's just you and one other person. But remember - each of us gives off ripples into our own corners of the world. The effect of each of our ripples within our own circles is exponential. Exponential ripples create change. 

So what good ripples can we create? 

I say we need to interrupt the assumption. 

Let's break the pattern of generalities and stereotypes by doing that one little part we can do ourselves. Remember that age old quote saying "Be the change you want to see in the world"? Even though it's not divinely inspired, I believe in that expression so much as a truth. It's an empowering idea for those who are overwhelmed by feeling like there's nothing that can be done to change what's bad. And it really works. In fact, for change to take place, this is the only way. They will not stop perpetuating the stereotypes for you. They will not stop resurrecting these volatile debates by committing more crimes or targeting people out of fear or hate. They cannot change what the masses believe about you as a human individual who may not conform to what the generality is. 

Know why they can't? Cuz no one even knows who they are!! "They" is just another generality. It's the term created for reference to the unnamed, the unidentified, the unspecified...and yet the ones we somehow all agree should be the ones to make stuff better. They don't exist. Only you and I do. 

You and I can be the change that needs to be seen in the world. And we need to do it whenever and wherever possible. We need to have those conversations when they're hard, or when they come at a bad time. We need to show love to someone who is looking for a reason to add someone just like you or I to their list of evidence for their generality. If all of this hate and discord really hurts our hearts, we need to set it as part of our daily mission to go out and change generalities wherever possible. We each need to be One Man Armies (or One Woman Armies) who fight this battle against assumptions right on the front lines - the trenches that exist between us. We need to make ripples every chance we get. 

Everyone you meet... Everyone you think you know but might not know well enough... Heck, even the ones you DO know, but need to win over to this way of thinking... These are our mission field. 

Decide for yourself today that you can be an exception to the generality that's driving division in our land and in this time in history. Then go out into your daily life, right in your spot, and be an interruption of everyone's false assumptions. Show them there's a different variable out there. Show them not everyone is who they think they are. Drive home that point with your love and kindness and unconditional regard for your fellow man. It's what you'd want for yourself, and it's what God asks you to give. 

Interrupt the assumptions with the fresh reality of YOU. Start a ripple in your world. Let's see how far that can go.