But then it is all of a piece with the Human Zoo videos we're watching in CPE training..and the brown eyes/ blue eyes "lesson" conducted in the '60s by Jane Elliot ....
...and the genuine 'need' for the diversity initiative just launched in my organization, which may the 3rd or 4th within my tenure. All similar ways in which the world reminds us to wake up and turn the light inwards, if only for a second of self awareness.
I am not immune from this blindness, but I find that I am certainly drawn toward efforts to counter it. Hence the practice of meditation, the reflective confronting of 'self' in retreats, in CPE, in my work as a manager (though I could wish it were less confrontational...working on that). I think it is an outcome of something that happened early and indelibly - my bones and muscle memory have never forgotten being a minority - the other race, the "disadvantaged" economic group, the kid who stuttered and couldn't run fast enough, the smart/wise-ass who didn't fit in so stood out. Rolls reversed, deficits countered - and those memories still waft through actions to this day.
Zen's teaching of "no difference" has always made bone-deep sense. And my experience in chaplaincy has never failed to confirm it - who is suffering...who is the patient...this time you, next time me. All that seems to matter is how we meet each other in this moment. Anger, tears, frustration, hope, joy - are any of these "other"?
Can't help but consider that the way I've seen folks respond to kirtan is also proof of no difference.
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