By Miles Jaye
Life is about connections– human connections, family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and church-mates.
The human condition renders us resistant to isolation.
We become lonely, sad, and depressed. Isolation as punishment dates back to medieval dungeons, but in spite of the controversy surrounding modern Solitary Confinement, the practice continues today.
According to an article, Solitary Confinement and Mental Illness in U.S. Prisons: A Challenge for Medical Ethics in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (March 2010), isolation can be as damaging as physical torture.
According to Genesis 2:18 God didn’t want Adam to bealone, lonely, so He provided a companion. Adam needed a connection.
Some connections are transactional. You’ve heard the saying, “Politics makes strange bedfellows.” It means, you may not share beliefs and common social mores with another person or party, however, it may be politically expedient to hold your nose and support or partner with them to satisfy your agenda.
Frank Sinatra resented rumors that he was connected to the mob.
Modern artists are accused of blood oaths and connections with the Illuminati. The assumption is that a higher, power, influence or authority is responsible for their success. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know!
In thinking about connections, I compiled a list of as many groups and organizations as I could think of which seem to satisfy the need and desire for the human connection. Alphas, AKAs, Asians, Baptists, Blacks, Bloods, Buddhists, COGIC, Catholics, Christians, Crips, Deltas, Democrats, Episcopalians, Hebrews, Hispanics, Independents, Iotas, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Kappas, the Klan, Lutherans, Masons, Methodists, Mormons, Muslims, Seventh Day Adventists, Pentecostals, policemen, Polynesians, Proud Boys, Republicans, Sigmas, Skull & Bones, soldiers, LGBTQs, Qs, and Whites.
I make no distinction between gangs and religions, fraternities and sororities, professional organizations, racial supremacy and civil rights groups. They each provide opportunities for the membership connection– to be part of something.
Perhaps even more interesting, from a historical perspective, are the cultural connections between ancient peoples whose religious customs and beliefs, laws, language and lifestyles, combine to form the world we know today. Through war and trade, empires have cross-pollenated the world beyond their borders of origin for better or worse, with every aspect of human life from the foods we eat to how and to whom we pray.
The Africans, (Alkebulan— Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Cape Verde, C’ote Ivoire, Rep. of Congo, Dahomey, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Gold Coast, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Mayotte, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Senegal, Sudan, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia, Zimbabwe).
The Arabs (Arabia, North Africa, UAE, Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Syria, Kuwait, Qatar), Aboriginal (Australia, Tasmania), Anglo-Saxons (German, English), Aztecs (Mexico), Bosnians, Czechs, Chinese, Dutch, French, Germans, Goths (Scandinavia, Germany) Incans (Peru, Chile, Ecuador), Indians (Indus Valley– Afghanistan, Pakistan) Japanese, Korean, Romans (Europe and North Africa), Phoenicians (Greece– Italy, North Africa), Spaniards (Iberian Peninsula), Persians (Iran), Ottomans (Turkey), Moors (North Africa, Spain), Mongolians, Malaysians, Thai, Negritos (Philippines), Mayans (Mexico, Central America), Mesopotamians (Iraq, Syria, Turkey), Slavs (Indo-European), Russians (Eastern Europe, Northern Asia) Poles, Serbs (Balkans), Tibetans (Tibet, China), Ukrainians, Vandals (Germans—Iberian Peninsula, North Africa) Visigoths (Germanic, Western Europe) and the Vikings (Denmark, Sweden, Norway) to name some.
Native American tribes, Apache, Blackfoot, Cherokee, Chippewa, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, Dakota, Eskimo (Inuit), Iroquois, Lumbee, Muscogee, Mohawk, Mohegan, Navajo, Olmec, Omaha, Ottawa, Puebloans, Seneca, Sioux, Ute, Yuma, to name a few, deserve special mention, as do the great African civilizations of Ashanti, Axum, Benin, Carthage, Kush, Mali, Nok, Punt, Songhai, Timbuktu, Zulu, and the Kingdoms of Dahomey and Ghana.
Humans have mixed, matched and integrated throughout the millennia, making the modern, mixedup world as we know it. It’s enough to render racism and xenophobia irrational, indefensible and unconscionable.
There is no supremacy, only the connection of humanity and the planet we share.
The popularity of ancestry platforms, (i.e. Ancestry, MyHeritage, and Findmypast), are proof of an increased interest in genealogy and the human connection. It seems we all want to belong to something greater than ourselves. We want to believe in something greater than ourselves. Apparently, we want what God wants for us– CONNECTION!
That’s what’s on my mind!
Website: www.milesjaye.net
Podcast: https://bit.ly/2zkhSRv
Email: milesjaye360@gmail.com
