(inspired by a Facebook post from Rina Megnin)
One of my friends told me about a powerful lesson in her daughter's high school class this winter. They're learning about the Salem Witch Trials, and their teacher told them they were going to play a game.
"I'm going to come around and whisper to each of you whether you're a witch or a normal person. Your goal is to build the largest group possible that does NOT have a witch in it. At the end, any group found to include a witch gets a failing grade."
The teens dove into grilling each other. One fairly large group formed, but most of the students broke into small, exclusive groups, turning away anyone they thought gave off even a hint of guilt.
"Okay," the teacher said. "You've got your groups. Time to find out which ones fail. All witches, please raise your hands."
No one raised a hand.
The kids were confused and told him he'd messed up the game.
"Did I? Was anyone in Salem an actual witch? Or did everyone just believe what they'd been told?"
And that is how you teach kids how easy it is to divide a community.
Keep being welcoming, beautiful people. Shunning, scapegoating and dividing destroy far more than they protect. We're all in this together.
The above story is a valid example of our modern day, micro-tribal, polarized and highly emotional society. We are encouraged to doubt, to challenge, to hate, to revile anyone whose beliefs do not exactly match our own. Sometimes even in the same family, idealogical rifts are caused which may never heal.
Similar tactics have been used by dictatorial regimes since time immemorial, well before the Catholic Church industrialized it. Even just in recent history Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Joseph McCarthy, Chairman Mao, Ho Chi Min, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Slobodan Milosevich, the Kim family in North Korea and yes, even Ann Sung Suu Kyi in Myanmar have all used these techniques (and worse) to divide and conquer their citizens, leveraging xenophobia, racism and misinterpreted religion to incite hatred and violence. Of course, no such list could be complete without Donald Trump, who expertly used the Hitler playbook to seize power during the 2016 US Presidential Election. We are surrounded by voices telling us how different we are, with very few reminding us how alike we are.
Training in martial arts does far more than build up our bodies. On the mats we are all equals. No race, no gender, no rich or poor. No religion except the truth of trying to better ourselves and each other - together.
I have said many times that martial arts is about learning to overcome fear --- this can take many forms. physical fears (aggression/violence/accident), emotional fears (rejection, failure, helplessness, weakness, lonliness) but also spiritual fears (fear of the future, fear of heaven/hell). Along this journey, we are challenged to explore our existence in this life this time, the frailty of our humanity and mortality, but also the strength of our character and our willpower to overcome obstacles and continue towards our goals. More importantly, we are challenged to explore and discover our connectedness to each other - the universal nature which links us all. This connectedness transcends human constructs such as race, gender, religion and sexuality. It is a recognition that we are all born of the stars, formed and reformed again and again until we are called to the miracle of this life - right here, right now - together. Kicking and punching are really only symbols of our fight for real understanding of why we are here and our struggle to find meaning in our lives.
I hope we will all remember to remain strong in the face of adversity, resist any persuasion to hate each other, and accept that THERE ARE NO WITCHES AMONG US.
We are all ONE.
