Black and White is a beautiful thing.
Here we are again, fighting among ourselves about race. Black people are angry. White people are angry. The president who is supposed to LEAD has exposed himself as clearly in favor of White Supremacy. We had a half Black, half White president and some people lost their minds because he wasn't all White. Aren't we tired of fighting among ourselves? I certainly am. It wasn't bad enough that we fought a civil war about Slavery (and yes the Civil War was about Slavery). How long are we going to label each other and argue about what we look like? Beauty is skin deep and skin comes in so many glorious colors and shades. This is nothing new and yes, it has been going on for millennium which is exactly why it’s absurd we haven’t stopped fighting about it.
Can you tell the race, religion, skin color of the mother and child below? No. You can't. Because it doesn't matter. What we see below is what we are all made of, that's all. A woman is embracing her child, placing delicate kisses on its tiny forehead and smelling the child’s unique scent. Does this woman live in America, Africa, China, or India? Does it matter? The lives we live, the deeds we do, the words we speak are what matter. What makes me different from you is how I treat you and how you treat me. When we cut ourselves the blood is the same color. When our heart pounds, it is the same color.
In 2007 I actually thought we entered the 21st Modern Century where we had science help us understand what was important and what wasn't. It appeared to me that we were progressing (slowly, but progressing) and could concentrate on what mattered, jobs and education and our environment but apparently, I had been living in a bubble. We have millions of refugees looking for safety , the world is literally on fire due to Global Warming and the poles are melting, we've been at war for 16 years (world war according to the King of Jordan), and 2 man/children are seriously thinking we can have 'limited nuclear war'. So please, let's argue about the color of our skin because it really makes a difference.
Charlottesville 2017, Fergusson 2014, Detroit 1967, Trail of Tears 1830, Aragon 1492, England 1290, and Egypt 1208 BCE. Do I need to list more? How many will be enough for us to get it? 2? 8? 20? We have societal events that send us loud messages of cultural and social issues but we ignore the reasons why. Instead we tell ourselves, “It’s just the way humans are and always have been.” While this may seem to justify our strife and conflict, let us also think of other things that we used to ‘always be’. We used to always think women had no rights. We used to think that throwing our bodily fluids out the window into the streets below was acceptable. We used to think putting people in dungeons and torturing them was acceptable. We used to think bloodletting was an acceptable form of medicine. We used to think watching people kill each other in open forums was sport. We used to think the world was flat. We used to think kings were all wise and powerful. We are capable of change. We can do it again.
White to Black and the shades in between, nothing to be afraid of.
Heaven forbid we should reach out and help one another instead of point fingers at each other. "Well, if everyone had voted for my candidate we wouldn't have this problem." As if one person could solve generations of cultural abuses. "If everyone followed my religion the world would be fine?" Really? How many wars have been fought and are still being fought over religious differences?
Labels? We got a million! Democrat. Christian. Muslim. Immigrant. Feminist. Conservative. Alt-right (and now Alt-left) Why? So we can define who the others are? Has it occurred to us that to someone else WE are the 'others'? To someone else WE are the enemy. And why? Because we don't fit their narrative.
A friend asked social media, "Why can't we just get along?" Yet this same friend won't compromise on her own political beliefs. I have seen this sentiment a lot in the past week, "We need to get a long." yet many won't compromise or bend on 'their values'- they expect everyone else to compromise, but not them. Does this sound familiar?
Don't talk about peace if you aren’t willing to change your own behavior. Don't talk about getting along if you aren’t willing to let go of your own ego. There are 7.5 billion living on Earth at the moment, we are all going to have to compromise. And yet, there is hope... Women the world over marched peacefully earlier this year. “An estimated 3,300,000 – 4,600,000 people participated in the United States and up to 5 million did worldwide.” AND “Thousands of counterdemonstrators marched Saturday in downtown Boston in a largely peaceful response to a self-described free speech rally that had sparked concerns of possible violence.”
We can be better people. We prove it over and over. Let’s keep striving to be the better people we know we are and not excuse ourselves from trying because: ‘Well, what about that guy/gal over there who is full of hate? He/she won’t change.” Maybe not, not in your lifetime, but maybe they will. People change. Societies change. It happens by more and more people talking, acting, discussing, reaching out and altering their own behaviors.
Comments