My Tribe

Although in historical terms, tribalism has served to both good and bad ends, modern advancement in knowledge and understanding, love and ethics has eradicated such from existence, necessity, and importance; I also have some ocean front property in Oklahoma to sell you.

The simple fact is, by in-large, tribes are now formed around ideas and philosophies (at least in the west) more so than race, ethnicity, religion, etc. But they are still very much alive and ruthless, as well necessary for survival.

And yes, in some cases, people revert to the former or more easily distinguished tribes based on things like skin color. This was made plain to me today. And maybe there is more of it than I was aware.

I can understand that temptation I guess. In a sea of plurality and chaos of characteristics like color, religion, ideologies, values, etc. it seems necessary to extract some commonality from that melding pot in order to create meaningful community, in order to make some sense of the world, find purpose, and attempt to thrive. We are social beings, and quite naturally like to be around those with whom we have principle agreement on weighty matters. Or, we simply like to be around those most like ourselves, those we can relate to best. Can two walk together unless they agree?

Still. For me, I’m not getting sucked into such a trap as forming those lines around color. All men are created in God’s image, period. And evil and light are bound by no such things visual characteristics.

The question is what color is my soul?

Therefore my tribe is the man who cares about righteousness, who shuns evil, who refuses to play the tyrant, who loves liberty under restraint, who desires to live in peace to the greatest extent possible, who cares for the widow and orphan, who does not exploit the weak (or protect those who do), who will fight when the time comes to do what must be done, who will lay it all on the line as required.