A permanent state of confusion

​A permanent state of confusion
 
I have always wondered
 
how others know who is an us and who is a them.
 
As a young child in Chicago
 
I watch a man stagger, stumble and fall.
 
It is assumed he is a “drunk”.
 
After all his suit is not from Books Brothers
 
His skin is not the right color for OUR poor neighborhood
 
even though it is clearly on the wrong side of the tracks.
 
He automatically qualifies as a them.
 
Of course, we too are part of the larger and more specific them.
 
Poor
 
Wrong side of the tracks
 
Working class
 
Those leading or speaking in a 12-step meeting
 
often qualify themselves belonging to this group of seekers.
 
No matter that to qualify they had to experience the agony of a
wrestling match between the addicted part of their brain and their soul.
 
They become an us because of their history of being a them. 
 
Will their desire to be accepted as a productive member of society
 
lead them to discover that in order to become an us they must have a
 
firm grasp on the importance of creating a them?
 
Is “us” a transitory label?
 
Can crossing a border of race, class, gender, state line, country line,
 
religion, truth telling or other arbitrary line create a them.
 
We move in and out of us and them insuring that the terms are
 
meaningless until they are used to exclude safety, ability to care for
 
for family, food, shelter, health care, dignity, and voice.
 
One might ask:
 
Is the Buddha an us or a them?
 
Is Jesus an us or a them?
 
What of the Jews?
 
The Palestinians?
 
Mohammed?
 
The poets?
 
The sick?
 
The mentally challenged?
 
The food challenged?
 
The feminine spirit?
 
What if we are all a them waiting for permission from the us to be birthed?
 
 
Written December 2, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org