Muhammad Ali just had a seventieth birthday celebration. He earned his fame by being a fighter not just in a boxing ring but in real life. In his real life fights it wasn't one on one in a ring, it was masses against one lone man. He fought racial discrimination, religious intolerance, commercial greed and ultimately the government in the country that was his by birth but not by custom or conscience.
I've had these kind of fights too, not as glorious or wide reaching but nonetheless tough ones. I've had the more mundane fights as well, for independence, social justice, better gender roles, bad days and against incompetence.
My parents and teachers told me often "don't fight". I'm still not sure what they had in mind. Were they counseling passive submission to all that life brings to me? Was it really "don't fight authority"?
Why fight?
At the primal level we all have a fight or flight response that kicks in when something threatening happens. We're wired to either run away or beat on the threat. Not very common occurrence for most of us. Our civilized lives keep the wild animals and wild people away most of the time. Not a whole lot of fighting required. Funny thing is we still have the reflex, even though we rarely use it as intended and don't expect to use it often. In the fight against natural threats, we've kind of won.
Fighting makes you feel bad
Nobody likes the huge adrenaline hit, racing heart, twitchy muscles, and fast breathing that comes with a fight. You don't feel too good afterward: sleepy, achy and kind of weak. Everybody knows this. So don't fight?
Reasons to fight
No, we still have to fight, maybe with less physical intensity than our ancestors but there are still things that require at least a threat of a fight. So what reasons are sufficient?
Wild animal attack
Not a frequent event for most of us.
Marauding savages
Time to move and get some new friends.
Aliens!
OK, folks the only alien you're going to see is the one working on the rich guy's lawn. Don't fight him, he's just hungry. Better to fight the rich guy until he shows some kindness to the poor.
Injustice
When someone takes what is not his, even if he rigged the laws to make it appear to be his, that's not right. We should fight to make it right.
Manipulation
Most of all, the assumption of authority by those that don't use it for good. When the guys you are hanging with hurt people and make them less, time to leave, they're not your friends.
Jesus didn't tell the poor it was their fault and that they needed to fix their own problems, he told the rich, the powerful and the self-righteous to do that.
I've had these kind of fights too, not as glorious or wide reaching but nonetheless tough ones. I've had the more mundane fights as well, for independence, social justice, better gender roles, bad days and against incompetence.
My parents and teachers told me often "don't fight". I'm still not sure what they had in mind. Were they counseling passive submission to all that life brings to me? Was it really "don't fight authority"?
Why fight?
At the primal level we all have a fight or flight response that kicks in when something threatening happens. We're wired to either run away or beat on the threat. Not very common occurrence for most of us. Our civilized lives keep the wild animals and wild people away most of the time. Not a whole lot of fighting required. Funny thing is we still have the reflex, even though we rarely use it as intended and don't expect to use it often. In the fight against natural threats, we've kind of won.
Fighting makes you feel bad
Nobody likes the huge adrenaline hit, racing heart, twitchy muscles, and fast breathing that comes with a fight. You don't feel too good afterward: sleepy, achy and kind of weak. Everybody knows this. So don't fight?
Reasons to fight
No, we still have to fight, maybe with less physical intensity than our ancestors but there are still things that require at least a threat of a fight. So what reasons are sufficient?
Wild animal attack
Not a frequent event for most of us.
Marauding savages
Time to move and get some new friends.
Aliens!
OK, folks the only alien you're going to see is the one working on the rich guy's lawn. Don't fight him, he's just hungry. Better to fight the rich guy until he shows some kindness to the poor.
Injustice
When someone takes what is not his, even if he rigged the laws to make it appear to be his, that's not right. We should fight to make it right.
Manipulation
Most of all, the assumption of authority by those that don't use it for good. When the guys you are hanging with hurt people and make them less, time to leave, they're not your friends.
Jesus didn't tell the poor it was their fault and that they needed to fix their own problems, he told the rich, the powerful and the self-righteous to do that.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Say something!