Irish Musings: Living with Barriers

Think of the physical barriers in your life: fences that define what you own or that protect your family; walls that keep people out; or possibly gender or skin color prohibiting you from being hired or promoted.

Traveling through Northern Ireland we encountered a variety of barriers that spoke to the divisions in that part of the world.

But what barriers do we live with... here and now?

Do you see through the barriers that separate?
(Photo: Fences and Faces, Belfast, Northern Ireland - Larry Gardepie)

It's important to notice and reflect on the barriers that we -- or others -- create... intentionally or not... for good reason or not! 

And no matter how much we decorate a fence or a wall, we must remember that it is still functioning as a barrier.  Its objective remains:  separating... dividing... obstructing... retaining.

How do you decorate your barriers?
(Photo: Fences and Flowers, Dublin, Ireland - Larry Gardepie)

This is why I was struck by the stained-glass windows in the Belfast City Hall: they told a story of tragedy (Titanic), heartache (famine), and hope (peace at last).  At the bottom of one colorful window was the following:

"Not as Catholics or Protestants,
 Not as Nationalists or Unionists,
 But as Belfast Workers Standing Together." 

Wow! The honesty to admit the divisions AND be aided by the reality and realization that we CAN live together! 

Can we stand together?  Do we want to?
(Photo: "Standing Together" Stained Glass Window,
Belfast City Hall - Larry Gardepie)

Coming back home, I reentered our American tragedy and heartache - the divisions that no longer allow us to see the individual faces; the labels that keep people out; the barriers that no longer protect... but destroy "the Other."

Our tragedy invites us to ask several questions:

• Are we happy being divided?
• Do we want to stand together, to live together?
• Where is the hope, the peace at last?

These -- and many other questions -- encourage us to overcome our Living Barriers and to become curious about the Other Side of the wall that separates.

We are called to dialogue!

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

 

 

Images of Self

We're going to a zoo?  And then a national research institute?  I guess my San Diego-snobbery got in the way!  After all, San Diego has a "world famous zoo", a safari park, Seaworld, and Scripps Research Institute!

Boy, was I wrong!  I was trapped in one Way of Thinking -- that what I have is better.  I would have missed the beauty and variety of Amazonian mammals, marine life, and insects found only in this part of the world.

And, I would have missed being caught in an Amazon Rainforest downpour that  has to be experienced (at least once!).

Are there times when you feel trapped?
(Photo:  Amazon River Otter, Instituto Nacional
de Pesquisas da Amazonia, Manaus, Brazil - Larry Gardepie)

It takes these moments of resistance...and flexibility... to accept an invitation for self-reflection:

• Who am I?
  
• Who am I in relation to others?
• Who am I in relation to the world?
  

We are challenged to ask other questions as well:  What makes where we live special?  Are we any better than others?  How can we experience anew -- with wonder and excitement -- the world we haven't encountered or don't understand?

How do you see yourself?
(Photo: Zooligico do CIGS, Manaus, Brazil - Larry Gardepie)

While on this Amazonian reflective journey, I came across a quote attributed to Mother Teresa: 

 

No one in this world is pure and perfect.

If you avoid people for their mistakes,

you will be alone in this world.

So judge less and love more.

I have to admit, though, this is so difficult to live out in our polarized world where One Side won't even talk or listen to The Other!

What standards do you have for yourself and others?
(Photo credit: Facebook download)

How then do we get past our embedded ideologies?  Is it as simple as Judge Less and Love More?

So many questions this week!  What are your thoughts?  Have you found ways to engage in a diverse world where Our Snobberies are overcome, and we experience the Downpour of Love and Acceptance?

 

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting