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Fitting into my Stereotype

By John Taylor; 2008 May 01, 04 Jamal, 165 BE

 

Announcement of May's public meeting in the Haldimand community

 

Tuesday, May 13, 2008: a talk will be given on the subject "An End to Religious Fanaticism," by Joseph Woods at the Garfield Disher Room in the Dunnville Library - 8:00 pm.  All are welcome.

 

Our community has extensive coverage of our public meetings in the local press. Here is Betty Frost's report on last month's talk by Anne Pearson about her grandfather, former Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson:

 

<http://www.dunnvillechronicle.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=988028&auth=Betty+Frost>

 

While I was researching that in our local paper, I came across the following article about the influx of pilots from China into our small town.

 

FAIR SKIES OVER DUNNVILLE FOR FLIGHT STUDENTS

http://www.dunnvillechronicle.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=997992&auth=Bob+Liddycoat

 

Reader Ed sent me the following anecdote about the late Hand of the Cause. It makes the rounds every once in a while.

 

A real story (Dr. Furutan)

"It seems a group of Jewish women from NY City came on tour to Israel and were visiting the Baha'i Shrines. All the women except one, removed their shoes and went into the Shrine of the Bab to say prayers. The one outside was talking with Mr. Furutan.

"Why did they take off their shoes?" she asked him. "Out of respect for the Prophet" responded Mr. Furutan. "Well *I'm not taking off my shoes. I'm going to stay outside." "That's fine," said Mr. Furutan, "We're having a good talk here."

Then the woman asked, "What do they do inside there?" Mr. Furutan: "They kneel or prostrate themselves and say prayers." "Well, *I'm not kneeling or prostrating myself. I'm staying outside." "That's just fine," said Mr. Furutan, "We're doing just fine visiting here."

During the whole conversation, Mr. Furutan had been flipping an American quarter and catching it.  He made another flip of the quarter and dropped it. The quarter rolled under a hedge. The woman, seeing that Mr. Furutan was an old man, said, "I'll get it for you."

So she knelt on the ground and got the quarter for him. As she handed it up to him, Mr. Furutan, with that wonderful twinkle in his eyes said, "Madam will not kneel down for the Manifestation of God, but she will kneel down for a quarter?" "You're RIGHT!" said the woman. "We think too much of money. I'm going inside to say prayers." And she did."

 

When reading that, I was expecting Dr. Furutan to say something like, "You just went down on your knees in order to help an old man, but not to pay your respects to One far greater than I or any other senior citizen." His comment was better, of course. It plays on the stereotype, and the wish to escape it. In my case, the wit of the staircase is not always an improvement. Coincidentally, my word for the day, arriving in the same email batch, was "salad days," meaning when we are young and crispy, like a fresh, cool salad. Old folks like me are, by the same logic wilted, rotten and unappetizing. But it comes from Shakespeare, so one dare not complain:

 

"In Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra praises Marc Antony's valor and demands that her serving woman do the same. When the servant instead praises her former consort, Caesar, Cleopatra threatens her until the woman notes that she is only echoing Cleopatra's own effusive past praise of Caesar. Cleopatra's reply marks the first English use of "salad days":

"My salad days,

When I was green in judgment, cold in blood,

To say as I said then."

 

Green in judgment, cold in blood, that pretty much sums up not only the days of our youth but the entire world of politics, policy and decision making, right now. There is a brutality about youth, as well as an incisive wit; little wonder they use the word "cool" so much. Somehow we need to get mature decisions that are crispy, not wilted.

 

New UHJ Elected

 

Speaking of votes and voting, most will have heard by now that the newly elected members of the House of Justice are Farzam Arbab, Kiser Barnes, Peter Khan, Hooper Dunbar, Firaydoun Javaheri, Paul Lample, Payman Mohajer, Shahriar Razavi, Gustavo Correa.

Now that the voting is over, I can speak more freely about the membership.

 

Judging just by names and faces, we have a believer of African ancestry, three Whites, a Latin, and four members of the Persian Diaspora. Lately I discussed the ethnic mix of the UHJ with a believer who is far more current and intimate with the Administrative Order than an isolated fellow like me. He suggested that this is not the right way to look at it, that the Baha'i Faith is not a democracy, the House is not supposed to represent the membership of the world at large or that of the Baha'is, la, dee, dah, dee dah. Actually, he did not say "la, dee, dah, dee dah." I added that in because it sounds appropriate.

 

Actually, my understanding is that it is important for voters to bear in mind such things as sex and ethnicity in their choices. For example, other things being equal, minorities are favored over others, Persian voters are encouraged to favor non-Persians, and in the case of a new NSA, delegates are encouraged to choose native over pioneer administrators. Similarly, the mix of women to men is a legitimate consideration. Surely the men of the House should in some way at least indirectly reflect the ethnic makeup of the whole human race.

 

So, looking at the ethnic mix of the UHJ, the most striking deficit is the complete lack of an oriental face among the membership. There are over a billion Chinese, and if you count Indonesia and the Far East, probably more like two billion overall. Considering that, it saddens me that there are no Chinese on the House. Of course the ones to blame for that are Baha'i teachers. Distressingly, that includes you and me, and since "you and me" includes someone I would never blame, I have no choice but to swerve away from blaming anybody.

 

Okay, so let us consider the makeup of the Baha'i community as it already exists.

 

In that case, the lack of representation from the Indian community is perhaps even sadder. The number of Indians is catching up rapidly with the population of Chinese in the world. Within the Faith itself, East Indians are already by far the largest Baha'i community in the world. I have heard estimates of between a third and four sevenths of all Baha'is are in India. Which raises the question, why four Persians, four Whites, and no Indians? It is to be hoped that NSA members will bear this in mind when they vote in the next UHJ.

 

None of this is intended as anything other than constructive criticism. Mostly, it is just an observation. Here is an example of an observation that led to change.

 

In the late 1980's the Canadian government introduced wage equity laws that assured that female dominated professions, such as nurses, were paid equally with traditionally male professions with similar training, such as truck drivers. Somebody observed that the paid positions at our National Center did not conform to wage equity. Although I do not know the details, our NSA appears to have acted in an exemplary manner, considering the Baha'i principle of equality of the sexes. They had a formal study done, and the wages were changed, at some expense to the fund. They did the right thing in the face of constructive criticism.

 

I am interested in hearing any feedback readers may have about my comments on the ethnic makeup of the House.

 

Looking over what I just wrote, I realize that I am just being a typical Whitey. According to the website, "What white folks like," people with light skin like to have at least one gay friend in order to prove that they are NOT PREJUDICED against gay people. By looking at the makeup of the UHJ and complaining that there are too many Whites, I am being a stereotypical White liberal, desperate to prove that I do not like the fact that my skin color is over-represented on the Supreme Body.