An event occurred more than 50 years ago that stays with me. I was a 23 year old Navy fighter pilot aboard the  aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea, 1000 feet long with a crew of 3000. We were in the Mediterranean at anchor in Istanbul, Turkey. A 60-foot scow approached carrying provisions for the ship. A Turk , standing in the bow was ordered to take the boat and produce portside. The following dialogue ensued:

PORTSIDE! PORTSIDE!          I WANT TO SPEAK TO YOUR CAPTAIN.

PORTSIDE! PORTSIDE!         ARE YOU THE CAPTAIN?

                NO.                           WELL, I AM AND I WANT TO SPEAK  WITH  YOURS.

Our Captain appeared. The men greeted each other and the scow went portside.

This meeting happened because of a long standing naval custom; ‘Captains greet Captains,’ despite accepted designation of levels of importance based on size, cost and power.

Where are our internalized customs of mutuality and respect for our common humanity? How is our fear of differences…not like me… to be mitigated, so the question asked centuries ago, and still operative today,  when confronting anyone different, “Do I eat you or greet you?”  will be answered in the new society by, “I greet you”  in an awareness of the purpose of our existence.

Barbara & Oliver