Sunday, December 19, 2010

Inequality

A few things have stood out to me recently in my reading of the scriptures. One of which I noticed in the following passage:

Alma 16:16 "And there was no inequality among them"

Becoming a Zion people, becoming of one heart and one mind is a significant thing. The question that this scripture has led me to ponder is this:

Do I create or sustain inequality by my actions? Is there anything that I do that makes someone feel less important when they're around me? Or if they already feel excluded, do I do anything to rectify?

I try to be kind to those around me, but I don't really think about building unity. I am sure that there is so much that I am missing that could make much more of a difference.

No one likes to feel like a lesser individual, like they're not wanted, to feel left out, feel alone in a room full of people, to go unnoticed among people you know.

To feel like you don't belong. That might be what I'm using as my criteria for inequality. Not the economic or political sense of the word, but the social. I hope to be one who dispells inequality.

One small step to understanding what it means to posess charity.

Then, the trick is to balance that effort with the need to build and maintain deep and important friendships and relationships. It is possible to make everyone feel as equals without spending equal amounts of time with each one. When we are in a group setting, perhaps we should spread our attention to others a bit more, but we can foster our closer relationships by how we choose to spend our time, and who we choose to spend it with.