Making Stone Soup

 Most religions have some variation of the golden rule as a basic tenet: "do unto others as you would have them do to you" (Matthew 7:12). This commandment does not say "do unto those who think like you do, or look like you do", or "only those who you know well". It simply refers to other living beings, regardless of nationality, race, sex or any other qualifier. 

And yet, fear of, rather than respect for, "the other", seems to have led to a general cultural madness in this country. In the past several weeks, young people have been seriously injured or murdered in accidental encounters involving gun violence.  In one, a16 year old boy rang the wrong doorbell looking for his brothers and was shot in the head; in another, a 20 year old woman was shot and killed when she got lost and pulled in the wrong driveway; in another, two high school cheerleaders were critically injured by gunfire after mistakenly trying to enter the wrong car. We scratch our heads and ask: "what is happening here?"; "why are people so suspicious of strangers and so quick to pull the trigger before even speaking to someone?"

Do we blame the media that is obsessed with demonizing those who are different?  Do we blame the pandemic, which forced us into isolation for two years and caused us to fear other people?  Do we blame lax gun laws as well as a national obsession with gun ownership and protecting what is "mine"?  Do we blame people's generalized fear and anxiety about a changing world, plagued with inflation, disease, climate change and political divisions?

No doubt it's a combination of all of the above and other factors as well. It's impossible to know what is actually going on in the minds of others, obviously. But is there anything we can do, personally, about changing this culture?  Most of us feel powerless, for sure.

We can pray, certainly; we can adjust our own attitudes if need be. We can petition for common sense gun laws.  We can also be awake and aware, tuned in to those around us.  If we sense fear and mistrust in others around us, we can do whatever we can safely do to defuse the situation, to peacefully change minds and hearts.

What comes to my mind is a European children's folktale, called "Stone Soup", that speaks to this tendency humans have to fear the stranger, or the "other". The story is about three travelers who come to a town, hungry and tired. They knock on doors, searching for hospitality, but time after time, doors are slammed in their faces. The townspeople are experiencing a time of great need and are no doubt feeling deprived and fearful themselves.

The poor, hungry travelers come up with a plan, however. They decide to build a fire and fill a cauldron with water and one stone. The villagers, watching from a distance, come out to see what they're doing. The strangers tell them that they are making stone soup and if everyone contributes just one piece of food, there will soon be enough for all. So, each family, slowly, tentatively, puts something in the pot. First a carrot, then some potato, a little cabbage and so on. Before long, there is a delicious soup simmering that, when finished cooking, is enough to feed the whole village. The two strangers, once mistrusted and shunned, have now succeeded in building community where there had only been fear.

As this story illustrates, it is fear and deprivation (whether physical, emotional or spiritual") that causes people to mistrust others and to react in ways that are the direct antithesis of the golden rule. I believe this applies to our current societal tendency to be distrustful and reactive as well.  It is up to each one of us to do whatever we can, in our small spheres of influence, to try to be the love and light bearers that this world so desperately needs right now.