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?
"Try to love one another right now."
ReplyDelete(Including the I am blessed guy...even though he's a little creepy.)
I will try to add one more person to my list. LOL
DeletePoor guy...he's probably just trying to spread some goodwill, and instead he's giving the creeps to people all over town. LOLOL
I remember reading 2 articles in 1968, one by Crane Brinton, the other by Bertrand Russell. Both used the phrase "Coexistence or no existence", and left a permanent pattern in my thoughts --much like any song sung by Marylin McCoo.
ReplyDeleteHi Geo.,
DeleteI had to look up Crane Brinton, because I don't think I've heard of him, or if I have I don't remember it. Wikipedia mentions a title he published in 1968, 'The Americans and The French'. Could that be the one you read? I wonder how I can find a copy to read myself...
Could be, but '68 was a very busy and confusing year for me, so I'll refer you directly to YouTube (highlight and place in top bar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aryGG1XnyxY
DeleteMcCoo and Davis were in their mid-60s at this performance. A modest proposal for 2 people or 7 billion: "though devotion rules my heart, I take no bow..."
I probably shouldn't say this in public, but I've heard this song a hundred times...and I honestly thought the name of it was 'Bill'. LOLOL
DeleteI am stupid.
LOLOLOL
Thank you for the link, Geo. :)
In the end, kindness is the only important currency.
ReplyDeleteYes!
DeleteThat is the mantra I go by now. It's one of the last things my grandmother said to my daughter and I before she died...she wanted us to be kind to each other.
Such a simple thing...it means everything.