Lessons from Texas

Last updated on: May 6, 2011 at 3:56 pm by Peter Dybing

Lessons from Texas 2011-05-06T15:56:00-06:00 Peter Dybing

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Writers in the Pagan community often confront attempts in the media to single out the Pagan community as “the other”. This process enables people to view our community as separate and not deserving of the protections that all Americans enjoy. My recent experience in responding to a disaster in a small Texas town was enlightening as to how this very process that we resist at every opportunity has subtly entered into my own thinking.

Jefferson Davis County in far southwest Texas is certainly a bastion of conservative thought and culture. Being there for three weeks felt like I had stepped back in time three decades. So what was this far left wing Wiccan doing in this cistern of extremist thought? Learning about the unity of humanity in crisis.

At home each day I read about conservative attempts to restrict the rights of women, children, religious minorities and Mother Earth herself. I read and become enraged, sign petitions, write articles and rally my friends in resistance. The conservative agenda has become the well-funded enemy with which I do battle.

On a hot and windy day in Fort Davis Texas I meet a young man and his five-year-old son. His truck featured stickers proclaiming his support for the NRA and George Bush. In casual conversation I learn that the fire I am responding to has reduced his home to ash. His strength and positive attitude is admirable. As he expresses his appreciation for all the firefighters who have responded to this emergency, I begin to wonder about my own beliefs about who and what it is that I am so focused on defeating. Certainly, this humble man walking in dignity after a great loss is not my opponent.

Have I engaged in the same kind of thinking that I so abhor? A re-examination of my thought process is certainly in order. As in all wars, in this war of ideas we risk becoming the thing we are attempting to defeat. Maybe the solutions we seek are in a more compassionate approach, the understanding smile, the strength of unity of purpose and intent. Have I lost my ability to view those with whom I disagree as others following their path in pursuit of what they believe is right and just? No, yet it is a precipice I nearly tumbled over.

There is no “other” only humanity

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