What Happens If You Exclude People?
Have you been banned from a group? Have you been treated like a second-class citizen? Do you know how it feels to be discriminated against?
When you were young, did certain kids exclude you from being their friends? How did that make you feel?
When a group refuses to let you join, do you admire and respect that group?
Many group leaders do not understand an important fact about letting people into their groups, organizations, businesses and countries.
“EXCLUSION OF OTHERS IS THE BASIC CAUSE OF WAR AND INSANITY.”
“Letting people INTO the group at large is the key to every great movement and bettered culture on this planet. This was the new idea that made Buddhism the strongest civilizing influence the world has seen in terms of numbers and terrain. They did not exclude. Race, color, creed*, were not made bars to membership in this great movement.
“Politically the strongest country in the world was the United States, and it was weakened only by its efforts to exclude certain races or make them second-class citizens**. Its greatest internal war (1861-65) was fought to settle this point, and the weakness was not resolved even then.” — L. Ron Hubbard from an article called “Group Sanity” (*creed: Religious belief **second-class citizen: A person considered inferior)
Perhaps certain people, groups or countries get angry at the United States, not because these people “hate liberty,” but because they are excluded by the United States.
Maybe people in the United States exclude people simply because they do not understand them.
Why Let People In?
If you let people into your group, they love you for it.
If you bar people from joining your group, they hate you for it.
For example, you have lunch with ten friends from work every week. You have a terrific time, laughing, telling jokes and enjoy yourselves.
Two new guys at work ask, “Can we join your group for lunch?” You say, “Sorry, it’s a private party.”
Later that day, you notice the two new guys won’t look at you. The next night, you find a long, deep scratch on your car door. The following week, the boss says, “I have an anonymous report here that you’ve been stealing supplies. Is that true?”
People around the world exclude others because of their race or culture (Middle Eastern, Asian, Hispanic, African), sexual preference (LBGT), religion (Buddhist, Mormon, Scientologist, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim), gender (LGBT) and age (too young, too old).
As a result, they create enemies, lawsuits, protests, insanity, violence and even death.
However, when nations, organizations and groups happily include anyone who wishes to join, they become more powerful.
Recommendations
Are you excluding anyone from your group? Do you believe anyone is a second-class citizen? Do you believe certain kinds of human beings are inferior to your kind?
If so, how might it benefit you to include them?
How can you treat these people as equals? What can you do to let people of all types to be your friends?
If you are being excluded, you might want to attack the person or group who is doing this to you. Instead, realize he or she just does not understand the consequences of exclusion. Seek to create understanding with them. Or simply find another group to join.
Even better, start your own group and include everyone who wants to join. Your group will become the biggest and most successful of all!