… I grew up being told there was a group of people fondly referred to as “them”. They were the people that had it all, a special people belonging to the uppermost echelon of humans. They were ‘the family’. They had the connections, were the upper class, had the money, lived in the sprawling mansions, drove the most beautiful and expensive cars, go on exotic holidays, were somehow good looking though not always. These people get what they want and what we want as well. They mix amongst there own, other ‘thems’, never diluting their specialness with our own unspecialness. Their lives were good and they were the envy of the whole town. We were the ‘us’, we weren’t terribly poor, there were hard times and there were goodish times. We were sort of okayish, there were people worse off than us, so we weren’t at the very bottom of the ladder, but we were definitely not part of the ‘thems’.
The ‘thems’ don’t mix with ‘us’ . There was an unspoken but clear understanding of this class dynamics. The point was that few people in the ‘us’ camp ever have any dealings with the ‘thems’ but a lot was said about them. We hardly ever see them, yet the irony was we seem to know so much about their lifestyle, true or untrue. There was another unspoken but accepted mantra, that we were born differently from them and in our station we will and must remain. We are to forever look up to ‘thems’ and they are to forever look down at the ‘us’.
Now, if anyone from the ‘us’ camp sights a member of the ‘them’ camp, it is always a massive deal. The news travels fast, “you wouldn’t believe who I saw today” becomes “you wouldn’t believe who Joe Bloggs saw today” all over town. The ‘sighter’ is awed, the ‘themer’ is pleased and sways and swags like a demigod. And as long as no one distrupts this dynamics all is good.
The members of the “them’ camps have been fed a different mental diet to the ‘us’ camp. They have been told they are special, very special indeed, the earth belongs to them and they must be worshipped and obeisance made to them, so expectedly their noses are way up in the air. And heaven help the member of the ‘us’ camp that does not bow in obeisance, they feel a great injustice has been done to them! Something terrible and strange is happening to the world.
And yes ‘something strange’ does happen. ‘Us’ becomes enlightened, starts renewing and expanding the mind, getting rid of false beliefs, pulling down hindering and restricting strongholds. Realising that the world is no mans land! We are all without exception strangers and sojourners on a temporary journey here, with the mandate to excel, expand, dominate, reproduce, develop, grow, flourish etc while we are here. It is not the preserve of the ‘thems’ there is actually no ‘thems’ it is all a myth! People have been fed different mental diet and given different starting platform in life. But by and large, it is no man’s land, we are all here to thrive. No doubt it is easier for some than others, but thrive! there are no ‘thems’ that should only enjoy the milk and honey of the land. Put another way, we are all members of the ‘them’ tribe.
Thrive!
Beautiful Ivory 