Perspectives from the Periphery: An Introduction

Perspectives from the periphery: the label intentionally chosen for this blog.

Web dictionaries define periphery as "the outskirts or edge." The periphery, from a medical perspective, is "where the nerves end."

Where the nerves end. . .

Nerves are the source of feelings. Without nerves there would be no awareness of pain, the awareness of something awry, and no connection to another through a handshake, hug, massage, pat or stroke. Nerves' messages can be so vastly different, yet vastly valuable if the human system is to function wholly. Nerves protect the core.

Protecting the core is also a societal function. Soldiers guard the perimeter, the periphery, during times of civil unrest or even war. But they do so at great cost. Too often the soldier becomes the sacrifical lamb on behalf of a center whose values they may or may not share.

But for those outside the perimeter, those on the periphery, there is no safe space. They live on the periphery, at the nerves' ends, where no one is aware of their pain.

Under colonialism and imperialism those in the core extract raw materials from the periphery and destroy nature's balance in the process. The extracted raw materials are then consumed or manufactured and then sent back to the periphery at high cost to the buyers and great profit for the core. Or the goods are shipped outside the system, again at high cost to the buyers and great profit for the core. Shipping outside has another cost, however, for the providers of the original materials. When product is shipped outside the system, the source of the goods never receive the true value of the resources. Eventually the resources are depleted and the providers are left with no means to buy necessities, And in the United States, unbridled capitalism has the same result.

The resource providers live on the perimeter, isolated from the core, at the end of the nerves. We see evidence of this in the news daily. Oil workers dead from another fire. Miners killed in another mining accident. But those incidents have no face. The maimed and the dead live on the periphery. Unseen. Ignored. Unless they find a way to band together, fight past the soldiers, and push against the core.

In the United States, during the late 20s and early 30s, those on the fringes united. One impetus for the battle for workers' rights was the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire where hundreds of workers died. Blocked and locked exits forced workers to jump to their death or burn to death.

History will repeat itself. As then, a precious few hold the country's resources and exploit those on the periphery. But the exploited will arise, unite and fight. Do we help them now while we have power and opportunity to collaborate for a mutually agreeable solution? Or do we ignore the warning signs, and just wait to see what happens, hoping that the revolt won't happen in our lifetime?

"This is the fast I have chosen," the Bible says. "to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor that are cast out (that are on the periphery); when you see the naked that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily; and your righteousness shall go before you," Isaiah 58:6-8).

In the end, the one benefited will be our own selves, for God will have our back. That is not just a promise. It is truth. For it is in giving that we best receive. It is in helping that we are helped. It is by loving that we are loved.