We Have Everything To Gain

During my last semester of college I took a political sociology class. Among other things we learned the history and evolution of civil movements in our nation. One of the theories was based around the following premise:

"Those who have more to lose fight harder than those who have more to gain."

At first, I thought this was untrue. It seems that if an individual has something to gain, they would do all they could to attain it. they would fight just as hard for that privilege or right as someone who was on the verge of loosing it. But then I recognized the unfortunate truth.

There are two children shopping in a grocery store with their mothers. Susie is allowed to have candy on occasion while Anna is not allowed to have sweets. Both spot a tub of taffy and ask their mothers if they may have a piece. Both mothers say no. Susie having had the joy of tasting the mouth watering substance previously pleads with her mother in hopes of trying it again. Anna, never having the privilege of tasting the sweet chewy candy, figures that she has survived this long without and will be fine not having it now.

The same theory is emphasized in relationships. You will fight a lot harder to heal a relationship that you have had for a year than you will fight for an individual whom you've had one phone conversation with. You will spend more time fighting to keep what you have rather than struggling to achieve something more.

I began to wonder if this is the reason why large advancements in our society take so long to take place. The Civil Rights Movements did not make any headway until the 1960's. I don't believe their success was stunted because they were not fighting hard enough. I think it is very possible that the opposition was just fighting harder. White men felt threatened. they did not want to lose their influence in business and politics. they did not want to face competition to their elite status. The opposition had nothing to gain from subduing the voice of civil rights, but felt as if they had everything to lose.

i feel the same thing is occurring right now in the movement for the expansion of gay rights. Do heterosexual couples feel as if allowing gay marriage will somehow make their own unions less special? (If they do, I personally think these couples need to reevaluate their own relationships.) Why does the gain of the excluded make others feel as if they have lost something?

Immigrants are currently faced with harsher penalties and greater restrictions to the privileges that they once retained with ease. It is harder to attain green cards, work visas, temporary student exchanges, or even simple access into America at all. Are these liberties being threatened so this particular group must fight to retain what they already have instead of fighting for anything more?

This system is teaching the public to be happy with the status-quo. The American dream is built on the progression from the bottom to the top. How do we expect to make progress if we are continually struggling to keep what we have rather than fighting for what we want? We are stifling the very premise that this nation was built on: the prospect of advancement. It is time for people to recognize that we are all playing for the same team; the progress of one is the progress of America... They have everything to gain and we have nothing to lose.