Tracking Our Anestors

There is an intensely interesting documentary floating around (perhaps Discovery channel) that traces the lineage of residents in Queens, NY (presumably because it is so diverse) and it is truly shocking what it reveals. In a nutshell, whereas many of us might intuitively believe our ancestry to be linked predominantly to physical features like skin color, a distinctly African, Hispanic, Middle-Eastern, European, or far east-Asian look etc., this is not necessarily the case.

Because all of humanity originated in present day Ethiopia (or thereabouts), Africa actually has the most distinct and diverse populace. But they are mostly black? Yes, but many people (presumably including many racial supremacists) are closer in relation to the very people they despise and view as inferior than they are to the people they erroneously believe to be close in ancestry.

I see 2 possible ramifications that this relatively new-found knowledge will eventually have on society. 1) It will humble any feeling of racial superiority and supremacy and give us less reason to hate those simply because they are different (or at least appear so) or 2) it will so humiliate and infuriate the supremacists to learn of this that they will eliminate themselves from the gene pool!

Either way, racial superiority in the not too distant future should (my use of should as opposed to will is very deliberate because I am very cynical) become a thing of the past.

A "Godly" Moral Paradox

Many of the devoutly religious seem apt to believe that being 100% certain they are right is somehow a virtue God respects above all else. I believe St. Paul, among others, encouraged this “Godly” stance. However, a “moral” contradiction arises.

If one is absolutely certain he is worshiping the one and only true God, where is the humility? Which stance might God honor more? Being absolutely certain or humbly conceding the fact that as much as one might really believe or at least really want to believe he is right, he could just as easily be wrong?

However unconscious it may be, I think many are reluctant to adopt this less than certain stance because they fear they would be “letting God down”. But without humility, what does this type of thinking systematically foster? Self-righteous superiority. This need not be blatant and obnoxious. I remember a “strong” Christian girl (please forgive me but this notion plasters on my mind a girl bench-pressing 350 lbs.) at a party causally and without any doubt asserting how others of different faiths were “buying into a lie”.

It seemed so innocuous, as she was a very amiable girl whose only “problem” was that she was absolutely certain she was right. Nothing overly harmful about said comment. But ultimately it projected self-righteous superiority. Once again, where is the humility?

A Worthy Contribution To Society?

Should we instill our children with confidence and self-esteem? This seems to be a worthy contribution to society, but how far should we take this? At what point might this instillation become detrimental? Does it not seem some kids are too confident of themselves? Have you ever seen kids that project superiority?

I believe what should be ingrained in children more than confidence and self-esteem is respecting others. Jesus referred to this as “putting others above yourself”. The problem with prioritizing your kids' confidence and self-esteem is that this ultimately puts it above respecting others. And as I have alluded to before, if one believes their children should have the utmost in confidence and self-esteem above all else, they will at times subvert sensitivity and decency toward others.

Furthermore, I believe instilling your children with the ideal of respecting others will systematically lead to a positive self image, in turn engendering confidence and self-esteem. Might many peoples' confidence and self esteem be built upon the fallacy that they should be better than others? Might this very well explain why many feel obligated to be better or at least appear better than others? Because of low confidence and self-esteem?

In this case, the very thing instilling confidence and self-esteem is supposed to prevent (low confidence and self-esteem) is the very thing it invites! This is not unlike many things in life. Oftentimes, wars are waged supposedly for the sake of peace. Retribution is doled out supposedly to stave off further “wrongs”. Do they tend to be effective? If anything, they are effective at magnifying the very problems they are meant to eradicate.