I am a big supporter of speaking out against hate and violence, about speaking up when someone is being untruthful, but this week has just about done me in. Here's the thing... I am a supporter of gun rights, I am Pro Choice, I am pro gay marriage, and I am someone that believes that we should not be giving hand outs to people that refuse to help themselves or people that come into this country illegally. I believe that the American flag should stand for something and be respected. I believe we should respect our Veterans, even when we don't agree with violence, because they are putting their lives on the line to keep our freedoms safe. I believe that there are more good cops than bad, that not all Muslims are terrorists, that a person who has a different skin color than mine isn't any better or worse than I am and should be treated with respect. But my biggest problem is that I want to believe that there is always good in people and that there is a justifiable reason when bad things happen.
This week, the government, my government, decided not to prosecute a presidential candidate, not because they didn't have evidence, but because they knew they couldn't "win". This week, at least two men were shot by police and the color of their skin shouldn't matter, but it does. This week, someone reached into a business and grabbed a little girl and tried to run off with her. There is so much more that happened that I just can't even process; bombings, murders, criminals getting away with crimes, victims being created out of chaos. Where do we go from here?
So what is the plan? How do we combat this? How do we stop hate and violence, lies and corruption? Standing on the side of the road is not helping. Screaming about which lives matter is not helping. Videos of police brutality is not helping. Angry mob videos showing destruction of property and violence against others is not helping. We have been falling apart for lifetimes and nothing is helping.
I have always believed that my voice is loud, that I can make people hear me, and in the small crowd or my world it is; but my voice is so very quiet against the noise of this violence. So what do I do? How do I help? How do I work towards making things right? This is where the hopelessness creeps in, there is no fix for what we are, we have always been this way and as a society we are not learning from the generations before us, we simply lie to our children about making a difference and that some day their children may live in a world that is not polluted by the people that exist here.
So here I am, admitting that I have been living in a plastic bubble. I am admitting that I have been lied to by others and by myself. It doesn't matter that I have friends and family of all colors and nationalities. It doesn't matter that everyone I know and care about has varying beliefs. You see, I truly believed that what is good will rise above and that racism is something that happens in small-minded places but that as a country we will rise above that. I don't believe that now. I believe that eventually the next Hitler or Hussein is going to rise up, they are going to find the right weak spot and we are very much in danger. Schools are brainwashing our children to believe that they can change the world, but they are not being taught how. People are standing in the streets, screaming to be seen and heard, and some are silent, waiting for more information, waiting for it all to die down and pass. The media is out in full force, they are exploiting the events, spinning stories to get their sales, telling just enough of the truth to make it real but highlighting what makes it incite rage and fear.
What do we do now?
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
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