mann

horace mann 1796-1859

     during the praise portion of church last sunday there was a guy in front of me dancing. truth be told, this made me really uncomfortable and feel a bit awkward- being he was the only one acting this way. this uncomfortable feeling quickly generated the question of: why does this man's outward enthusiasm and excitement for his Creator make me uncomfortable?
    i looked around and noticed that everyone else was standing with both feet on the ground, hands in their pockets or crossed and phlegmatically mumbling along to the familiar tune. the dancing man was different from everyone else (myself included) and this made me uncomfortable. but why? generally, being around people who are different from me do not make me uneasy; but this did.
     tracing this feeling way back to america's beginnings, the government had a solution to this uncomfortable feeling when different cultures and thoughts on G-d began to mix in the colonies; this solution was public education. U.S. house representative Horace Mann became known as the father of the public education system, or the father of the solution to this uncomfortable feeling. as a product of the public education system i am very thankful to Mann's vision and desire to create an education system that would serve not just the wealthy, but i think that the theme of americanization, or assimilation had and has ill effects on the "american" culture. i am, obviously, attracted to what is familiar and similar to myself and there is nothing wrong with that, but when this attraction begins to create barriers and segregation (and i am not just referring to the big examples- i am talking about the subtle moments) is when this attraction becomes dangerous. have i (or dare i say, the church) become so attracted and reliant on what is familiar and similar to me that when someone acts different (in a way that i am unable to relate to at that moment) i instantly view that individual as strange or even far from "truth"? (i am by no means racist or intolerant of other cultures and i am not talking about having a disgust or hatred toward another culture, i am talking about that subtle uneasy feeling you get when someone makes you think about culture and consider faults in your own and truths in theirs.)
     Mann helped create an assimilation system so that the irish, germans, spaniards, etc. would no longer have conflicted views on religion, morals, and politics. to become like-minded. rather than learning and embracing the differences of those who were coming to america, we created a system to suppress differences and teach one single truth. when i explain what Mann did it sounds terrible. but when i live day to day subtly judging and creating barriers between myself and those who are different from me- it does not seem so bad. that is not okay. it can be difficult to honestly say that i do not have it all figured out. that i do not understand my religion sometimes, and that i do not comprehend the finer points of love (the one thing that i am called to abide in). it is difficult to try to explain, both to myself and others. but there is beauty in the other. there is beauty in that man dancing. and there is beauty in the woman standing with her arms crossed. i do not know if Mann was able to find the beauty in diversity. diversity of thought. diversity of action. dancing. standing. sitting. speaking. listening. yelling. whispering. sining.
     i understand that the statement of "there is beauty in diversity" is beyond cheesy. but there is a lot of truth in that statement. and although that lame slogan has been tossed around a lot i do not know if we really understand and embrace it; i know i don't. i am trying to challenge myself to fight my instinct to ignore and dispute thoughts and ideas that do not align with my own. and to respect how others find and experience G-d.
     i may have sounded like a bit of a jerk here, but i hope that you will be able to relate to some of these feelings and understand that differences do not always generate hate, but can generate question and uneasiness for a multitude of reasons and can eventually (with the right mindset) create growth, peace and love.