Black and White

“But the judgements we render about each other are often made by avoiding the evidence. Categories become containment systems for some of us. Who we are and what we do is routinely packaged in dismissive ways. All Jews support Israel. All Muslims are jihadis. All lesbians hate men. You wrap up the world in a tidy package, and thinking can stop.” — Rebecca Solnit

I’ve found myself chewing over a particular essay in Rebecca Solnit’s The Mother of All Questions, a fascinating accounting of women’s liberation in the twenty-first century. 

Solnit spends so much of her time debunking myths cast over women through the ages. In the case of The Pigeonholes When The Doves Have Flown, Solnit devotes her time to collective persecution. 

I’m guilty of speaking out of turn. In the blink of an eye, all women are bad drivers when stuck behind a little old lady. Every well-to-do personality an entitled ingrate upon hearing waitstaff being chastized by middle-aged men and women.

When I get hot under the collar, each and every member of a particular category is suddenly guilty by association. Yet as much as we’d like to wrap up the world into neat little boxes, the world is far too complex for such simple arithmetic. When we have the patience to put ourselves in the shoes of others we have the capacity to comprehend. Compassion goes a long way to understanding. 

Xo