Me Space vs. We Space

In today’s NTY article, A Disaster Reaches Beyond the Gulf Coast” got me to thinking about how the BP disaster that is currently unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico has placed the people of the region, and our nation at large, in a double-bind.

On one hand, the people of the region are confronted with the reality that profit hungry enterprises will despoil their environment for  generations to come, destroying everything in the region that makes life worth living. On the other hand, they are terrified that those same greedy enterprises will be stopped, causing them to lose the jobs, income, and cheap fuels that the activities of those greedy enterprises offer.

This is just one more example of the conundrum of Me-space versus We-space that is currently polarizing and paralyzing our nation.

Me-Space

ME-SPACE

Me-Space is a tiny place viewed by digging down to a narrow vantage point with “Me” at its center. The deeper I dig downward and pull inward, the tinier my Me-Space becomes. I divide my space again and again, until my “Me” stands alone, surrounded by alien”Me’s”. Me-Space is a place of danger and fear in which I build walls to protect who I am and what I possess from others who want to rob me of all that is rightfully mine. In Me-Space everyone who is not “Me” is a threat. I shutter my windows. I arm myself with guns and bullets and lies. I close my mind to subversive ideas. I dig-in, hunker down and defend my Me-Space.

WE-SPACE

WE-space

We-Space is a very large place that can only be seen when I climb upward to the highest and widest vantage point I can attain. The higher and wider my vantage point, the larger and more encompassing We-Space becomes.  The world seen from We-Space dwarfs me and my Me-Space with its impersonal immensity and awesome grandeur.  It is a world in which my puny “Me” can only survive and prosper as a member of “We”. In We-Space there are only the hopes and dreams “We” share and the possibilities “We” conceive as we confront the challenges the world puts in our path. It is a space that is anchored in a fundamental faith that human beings can prove themselves worthy so long as they continue their striving to climb ever-higher to see ever-wider.

Living in Me-Space leads with absolute certainty, downward toward greater loneliness, vulnerability and eventual oblivion. We-Space, on the other hand, offers no such promises. The fate of human beings remains ever uncertain. But in We-Space there is a universe of possibilities in which the challenges before us provide we human beings with ample opportunity to prove ourselves worthy .

BP Notes:

In Me-Space, the BP disaster as one in which I assign blame to alien “Me’s” who infringed on the rights of “Me”. In We-Space, I realize that the BP disaster is one that “We” made inevitable by lounging irresponsibly in Me-Space and allowing self-interested Me-Space profiteers to undertake risks that would at some point, inevitably despoil both Me-Space and We-Space.

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