TS Eliot wrote, in “The Rock”
What life have you if you have not life together?…………When the Stranger says: “What is the meaning of this City?Do you huddle close together because you love each other?What will you answer? ‘We all dwell togetherTo make money from each other?’ or ‘This is a community?’”
Take a look down your street. Down any street. Imagine all the people who live there. Some of them you might know, others, not so much. Or maybe you don’t know any of them at all. But, here’s my question.
Why shouldn’t all the people living in the same street have the same rights?
The same rights to live, love, learn, work, to garden, to shop, to go out for something to eat, out for a drink…..take part in the same concerts, enjoy the same museums and galleries, see the same movies…..same rights in law, same rights to health care, education, same freedoms to move, to speak, to write, to vote?
In other words, why separate people who live in the same street?
Why separate them according to the place of their birth, or the place of their parents’ birth?
Who benefits from doing that?
Is that any way to create a community? A town? A city? A country? A world?
What do you think? Is it better to set limits on some of the people who live in this street? To say some can stay but some can’t? To say some can vote but some can’t? Some can have access to health, education and social support, but some can’t? And if you think that’s better, how do you think we choose? Who should we include, and who should we exclude?
Because I really don’t see the point of all that separation, and categorisation, and exclusion.
Leave a Reply