Dedication ~ To my beloved ~ the one who inspires me beyond myself…
The Scorpion and the Frog ~
A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of a stream and the scorpion asks the frog to carry him across on its back. The frog asks, “How do I know you won’t sting me?” The scorpion says, “Because if I do, I will die too.”
The frog is satisfied, and they set out, but in midstream, the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of paralysis and starts to sink, knowing they both will drown, but has just enough time to gasp “Why?”
Replies the scorpion: “It’s my nature…”
We are as divided as we have ever been in this country since our Civil War! North against South has become Left against Right…Liberal versus Conservative. Most of us understand the wisdom of Lincoln’s words, “A house divided against itself cannot stand”, but choose to continue on the path to deeper division rather than seek common ground…knowing the inevitable consequence!
The “Nationalist Socialist Demon” skinhead (as referred to by someone much brighter than me) who murdered the innocent Sikhs in cold blood is no more a representative of who we are as Americans than Bill Maher is. Most would say we are a “center-right” society. While some may wish otherwise, this is who we’ve always been and most would argue, this is who we should continue to be. The problem at hand and root cause of our divide is that the minority who wish otherwise are attempting to take the majority where they have no intention of going. This is compounded by the fact that the minority thinks it has more power than it actually does, while the majority thinks it has less power than it actually does…a very dangerous situation!
The outcome of Aesop’s Scorpion & Frog fable was inevitable. Ours would be as well were it not for the potential saving grace known as free will…a quality that only we humans possess. And it is within the psychic toolbox of our free will that the one tool that could save us from our own self-destruction exists—our ability to have empathy (n) the ability to share another’s feelings.
The fact is that what the world needs now is love sweet love. The problem is that the crack that once separated us has now become the Grand Canyon. The solution is to find a way to bridge the gap. Empathy is not just a bridge…it is the only bridge short of submission or surrender that will ever carry us across that great divide.
Common ground is probably the most kicked-around term in mediation dialogue. There is even a Palestinian-Israeli Coexistence newsletter by that name. But how can we have common ground when you’re on your side of the Grand Canyon and I’m on my side? People make the often fatal mistake of identifying common ground as the first step. The most repulsive thoughts on the planet are those of polarized people cringing at the idea of sharing common ground…until they want to. Wanting is the first step! And the wanting is the ultimate objective of the Emissary of Empathy!
There is no common ground in my having to deny my own faith in order to accommodate yours. Why should you give up your oxygen to feed my fire? And yet husbands do for their wives as mothers sacrifice for their children from the “want” of love…not because they have to.
But the idea here isn’t to sacrifice one for the benefit of the other. The idea here is more about the recapturing the magical synergy of us…1 + 1 = 3 or 6 even! And I will tell you this is the very last thing that those who seek to divide us want to see us achieve! Oh, they want very badly for this never to happen! I’d say that they hope to make the Grand Canyon the Atlantic Ocean! But imagine how well you and I could govern ourselves once we realized that you and I could = plus 6! And if we wanted to…upon further examination we might come to realize that those who seek to govern us = minus 6! But I’m showing my colors which you’re not quite ready to see because you have your own…which are really quite beautiful…the way they compliment the sparkle of your eyes. 
What if someone came up with the idea to get a group of bright articulate and passionate people from the Occupy Wall Street crowd and put them in a controlled setting with an equally bright articulate and passionate group from the Tea Party? And what if this same someone were to attract the resources and interest necessary to make this the next #1 hit of Reality TV in the Fall Season because of its very timely formula of entertaining drama centered on the swirling vortex affecting each and every one of us? Someone has!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp065yR_D9g
And what if the producer’s goal of educating, raising awareness and connecting us to our own Emissary of Empathy actually happened? A dream to build a bridge on… 
http://shutupnsing.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/the-emissary-of-empathy/
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