I imagine most of us had in either high school or college a basic psychology class where we learned about Pavlovian dog drool, Rorschach ink blots and Maslow's hierarchy of needs.  The later states we have an order to our needs in life and they build upon one another: 1) survival (food, hunger); 2) safety (comfort/shelter); 3) psychological needs (love/relationship); 4) esteem (self confidence/respect of self and others); 5) self-actualization (creativity/spontaneity/lack of prejudice- very popular in Asheville!).  Maslow suggests we can't meet higher level needs if we are insecure, unsure in the lower levels.

I may have seen an exception recently, a statistic suggesting that we may get to higher levels despite ourselves.  In one political poll, it is suggested that those who listed race as a concern in voting for Obama may have now dropped that concern due to the instability of the markets.  Folks in this group seem to have moved from a higher level consideration- lack of prejudice - to being motivated by a lower one- 'will I have a paycheck?'  The paycheck issue trumps concerns about race apparently.

While not making a judgement about the above polls, I do see a correlation to how we act in time of crisis: during Katrina and 9/11, people quickly shed any need to see other people in categories.  We needed each other to survive- don't care who your ancestors were, we need each other in this moment.  Do these times push us paradoxically to  a higher level of consciousness, if not simply a higher level of functioning?  Do they push us beyond the perceived luxury of prejudice?  The experience would suggest that is so.

Perhaps the trick is staying there when the acute threat lessens.  Perhaps the trick is learning from the expereince, reflecting on it so that we realize we can indeed live without labels, categories and stratas of persons.

I recently heard a person of an 'identified ethnic group' say, 'Stop worrying about what is politically correct to call me.  Don't call me a ____________  (Native- American, African American, Asian American, Italian- American.... ).  How about calling me an American."

Perhaps there is a grace to be found in this unstable time.  Perhaps it can lead us from the sense that categorizations  of people can give us any life at all.  Maybe this time has a gift: to find any level of life including self-actualizaion, we need each other, everybody.

Todd Donatelli