Does it matter if I'm cis or noncis?
What about black or white?
Female or male?
Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jew, Muslim?
Chinese? Indian? American? Nigerian? Brazilian? German? Russian? Iranian?
I can reduce myself to a hundred parts and each one is sure to offend someone on this planet.
I'm offended by things, too. When the Iranian president denies the Holocaust, it hurts. When the Supreme Court says some parts of the Voting Rights Act are no longer needed, it hurts. And when the Russian president says gays in his country will be arrested, it really hurts.
It's been less than eighty years since the Holocaust. It's clear some world leaders have forgotten.
The mantra of Holocaust survivors was, "Testify. Never forget."
I don't think the climate of hate we're seeing today is helpful in securing a positive, permanent change in the world.
And isn't that what we want? To move towards a safe place for everyone to live?
Instead of me being offended by my neighbor because he is a cis white male Christian American, I can celebrate his difference. HE CAN'T HELP WHO HE IS.
Snarking continually on how white men are the bane of society, on how the US is behind the rest of the world in virtually everything, on how awful Democrats are, on how awful Republicans are, and how my opinion doesn't matter because I'm a straight girl from Kentucky - it is all self-defeating.
The name-calling and hate-spewing is causing us to overlook the issue at hand. I don't hate you, and I don't think you really hate me. Why are we wasting our time pretending to hate each other?
I want to be safe. I want you to be safe. I want my family, and your family, and all of our families to be safe.
Millions of people standing together for the safety of our families is a far more powerful testament than the dissonance of a billion voices shouting in hate.
I am human. Nothing else matters. I have the right to be safe.
So does everyone else.
It's our duty to protect the safety of our fellow humans when someone or something is trying to take it away.
See Pastor Niemoller's poem here...
Edit: Have you heard about this? Shouldn't the international community intervene in the case of Russia, BEFORE another genocide occurs?
I want to be safe. I want you to be safe. I want my family, and your family, and all of our families to be safe.
Millions of people standing together for the safety of our families is a far more powerful testament than the dissonance of a billion voices shouting in hate.
I am human. Nothing else matters. I have the right to be safe.
So does everyone else.
It's our duty to protect the safety of our fellow humans when someone or something is trying to take it away.
See Pastor Niemoller's poem here...
Edit: Have you heard about this? Shouldn't the international community intervene in the case of Russia, BEFORE another genocide occurs?
