This I Believe

I believe that all men are the same. This cherished ideal is the consequence of years of association, as an educator, with people of all racial and culture groups. It is also, I contend, a belief that is synonymous with our Christian-Democratic way of life. The social myth of inequality is perpetuated by only the insincere, who give but lip service to true American ideology. The differences among mankind being more apparent and spectacular, I feel that I must guard against the temptation to overlook the samenesses, or to judge my fellow man by appearances, or to scoff without understanding and tolerance.

I have learned that it is the same things that cause all men to grieve. With some, grief is dry eyed and silent; with others, grief manifests itself in tears and wailing. But whether the death of a loved one be proclaimed by the beat of tom-toms, the smoke from a signal fire, or the solemn procession along the street, all men mourn. At the same time I have learned that it is the same things that cause mankind to rejoice, although some men laugh, some men chuckle, while others merely smile. A mother’s joy in her baby’s first steps is dissociated with her complexion. A father’s pride in the courage of his son is not governed by the country in which he lives.

I believe that, universally, men are driven by the same compulsions:
hunger refutes discrimination, be it raw fish, or rice, or black bread, or T-bone steak that men envision in their deliriums of starvation; home is dear to the heart of all men, be it a tent in the desert, an arctic igloo, a tumbled-down shack, a tenement in the slums, or a mansion on the hill. Playing no favorites, the basic elements of survival are no respecters of class, color, and personality.

My work here has taught me that common to all men of all lands are the needs for love, security, belongingness, prestige, and a divinity to which loyalty and hope can be attached. All men toil that they and theirs may live. Few are the people without a God. In all walks of life, man solicits the esteem of his fellows. No one man has a monopoly on beauty, nor a corner on contentment. I am sure that most men are good. Yet, in the frustration that follows the unfulfillment of these common physical and emotional needs, mankind becomes capable of violence toward one another.

I believe that universal peace must be fabricated upon goodwill among men. It is understanding that man’s apparent differences are superficial, that makes for goodwill. It is believing that all men are the same, that makes for peace. These beliefs of mine have grown steadily and surely from many years of wonderful experience with people. They have never failed me.