The American Way of Life (Part 6 of 28)

Part 6: of a 28-part series

So the first idea, we are progressing. I have to progress. I am working to believe the self-evident truth that all men are equal. I [need to be able to] look at someone who is exactly opposing me in every form, shape, and idea, and still say he is my equal – not saying “I have this, and you don’t have this”, and so forth, but really believing that that individual is my equal under the same Creator. This is easy to say, but not to do. I mean, how deep is my belief in that concept?

And by the way, not everybody believed it in 1776. In fact, most of the world does not, and did not even then. First of all, from the Old World, America came from somewhere. We came from the Old World. That would be Asia, Europe, and Africa. From the Old World came to America an entrenched idea, and it’s deeply entrenched. Thousands of years entrenched. [The idea is] that there’s a natural inequality among men. It’s absolutely so. I mean, let’s get it down. Social order rests upon the assumed natural inequality of men, according to historians.

Now, you don’t have to go too far beyond our borders to see that that’s so. We know that. Females know that. Children know that. A man’s worth is established by some social order, and a ranking based upon birth, wealth, power, property, education – and I’m putting in there for this season, party. [There’s] an order of men, comparing themselves with other men. That’s what we do all the time. We’re always examining each other by each other. We’re comparing ourselves with other men, and we already have our ranking system in our head.

Of least worth in this social order are the weak ones, whether they’re weak in finances, power, force, etc. Basically, women, children, and the poor are more worthless in this social order. And some aren’t worth living, having life of their own.

Now, we know that’s true. We don’t have to go far in our neighborhood to find out that not everybody believes every life has importance, has intrinsic worth, has usefulness. Some academia is going to tell you whether you’re useful or not to live, whether you’re fit to live or not!

To be continued…

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