Denial seems to be a fixed position for many Americans. It may be the same for Europeans, Asians – lots of others. Since I know my own culture best, I can say, without qualification, that we suffer from it. If we could drop denial, drop the constant stress of impending doom, I wonder what would happen? Might we meet the rest of the world as equals? Might we be open to understanding the rich gifts in each other’s cultures? We might!

Let’s look at some of our denial: What happens when we practice it? For one thing, we get out of touch with reality. We really don’t know our history or anybody else’s. We’re ignorant of the causes of human behavior and international conflicts that threaten us. We may be comfortable, but we’re not conscious, and that’s a dangerous place to be in today’s world.

We have been in denial of so much. Most of our history books deny we almost exterminated all the Native American people when we came here. We even thought Columbus "discovered" this land and that we were the first settlers on it. We denied any culture existed before we came. We were wrong.

We also denied that we Americans were once slaveholders and that we profited from trade in human bodies. There are usually brief references in history books about these actions, but not enough, really, to bring these two tragedies to our attention.

We’ve gloried in proclaiming we are a peaceful people. We deny all the wars we’ve fought, all the weapons we’ve developed, sold, or used. We deny we’ve set part of the world afire through such thoughtless and harmful action as dropping the first atomic bomb at Hiroshima, our continuous bombing of Iraq, and our hubris in thinking our task is to western-democratize all other nations.

Why should we give up denial? Because we can have a more honest and truthful relationship with others. We will be trustworthy. We will know our own shortcomings, admit them, and be more generous to others. We will know we are flawed and so are others and together we can work through these destructive patterns, give up our "self-interest"’ and work for the interests of all. We might even become friends with those we now call our enemies; we might even stop bombing Iraq and listen to Saddam Hussein with a respect all human beings deserve, and ask forgiveness for the pain and suffering we’ve brought to the Iraqi people. We might rescue the Palestinian people, and the Israelis at the same time, by stopping our arming of Israelis and instead send our brightest listeners and mediators to help both heal from this ancient conflict.

Dropping our masks of denial might help us get in touch with the truth of the situations we now lunge at awkwardly and destructively with our deadly methods.

We might just spend the rest of our lives acknowledging the pain we humans inflict upon one another, stop inflicting it, and celebrate our ability to ask forgiveness, and make restitution. And you know what? Unburdening our consciences and performing acts of kindness might even be fun.