More on they, them and otherness...

I completely understand why students plagarise- someone else says something that completely sums up what you want to say and beautifully, better than you ever could... (I am not condoning it, but i do understand it!)

so at the risk of a little plagarism... I found this amazing paragraph in a book i am currently reading which is beautifully written and eloquently describes what i was trying to say in my last post...

(The man mentioned in this paragraph fought in WW 1 and is coming to terms with life after the war. He now works as a lighthouse keeper)

" It seems improbable to Tom that such endless space could exist in the same lifetime as the ground that was fought over a foot at a time only a handful of years ago, where men lost their lives for the sake of labeling a few muddy yards as 'ours' instead of 'theirs', only to have them snatched back a day later. Perhaps the same labeling obsession caused cartographers to split this body of water into two oceans, even though it is impossible to touch an exact point at which their currents begin to differ. Splitting. Labeling. Seeking out otherness. Some things don't change."

M L Stedman. The light between oceans. Page 60

 I think our "seeking out otherness" is what makes us able to justify racism, injustice, bullying, hate, condescension, murder, bigotry...