With all the recent incidents stemmed from hate, I took the liberty to right down some preventative understandings for Americans to take in when retaliating to these acts.
1. All Lives Truly Matter
It doesn't matter your race, religion, gender, sexuality etc.; all lives matter. Not one life is more or less significant than another. This stems from a speech we were all given as children, treat others the way you would like to be treated. There is no reason that a person loving someone of their same sex should make you feel hatred or anger towards them. There is also no reason a person's skin color should cause you to discriminate towards them.Religion is said to be a touchy subject, but if your religion stems any hate what so ever then I would reconsider finding a better understanding in what your god is truly saying. There are peaceful Muslims, Christians, and atheists, learn to coexist. If they can, so can you. Every single person’s life impacts the world in some way, the sooner we as individuals humble ourselves to realize we are not greater than any other human, the sooner our country will benefit. And just to clarify for those confused with the black lives matter movement, they are not suggesting that only black lives matter but the fact is that our judicial system seems to have forgot that all lives are equal, especially black lives. That is why it is important to make such an emphasis on the importance of racial equality.
2. A few people's actions shouldn’t reflect a whole group's intentions.
There are bad grapes in every bag, sometimes even a few. But those bad grapes shouldn’t then reflect the greatness of the others. Living species are the same. Just because there a few bad cops, a few bad pit bulls, a few bad Muslims, etc. doesn’t mean you can label the whole bag “BAD”. Some of the bravest people I have known are cops, some of the sweetest dogs I have seen are pit bulls, and some of the kindest people I have met are muslims. This goes for any other race, religion, or group. If you group people together based on a few bad grapes, you are part of America’s problem.
3. Do your research before you speak politics.
Before you go around spewing, “make America great again”, or “Hillary for America”, I ask that you please do some research. And just an FYI, research isn't what you read on facebook or twitter. It is also not who your family or favorite celebrity endorse. Do not fall for these tactics that these runners use to persuade you.
Go onto a candidate’s campaign page and read their views on certain topics. Then read news articles, not just headlines, but the whole article. Also search for articles that are unbiased, (even though they are hard to find). All I am requesting is for you to make educated decisions and not debate politics without evidence to back up your political choices. Me and the rest of America would gladly appreciate not seeing anymore illogical Facebook fights about why we need a woman president or a wall on our borders.
4. Keep an open mind.
It truly isn't hard to not judge one another for things that have no impact on our lives. Such as which god we worship (if any at at all), the color of our skin, or the people we choose to love. If these things have no effect on your life then you have no right to comment on other people’s choices. If you interpreted that your religion disagrees with someone else’s decisions, that’s fine, because you are not being forced to be apart of those decisions. And before you cut off a person because they are different than you, remember that we are all human and simple issues do not determine who we are as people.
5. A border doesn't make you special.
America is a mixing pot of cultures because it was founded by people searching for an escape from an unjust ruler and originally we were looked at as a safe haven. But America is now looked at as a “global bully”, I remind you those are not my words. Currently a candidate is attempting to “compel” Mexico, a country with 48% of their people under the poverty level, to pay for a wall we want to build to keep them out. So in other words we are threatening a country with almost half of their people in poverty, that if they do not pay 5-10 billion dollars to put up a wall for us that we will in exchange cut ofd money supply to them. And many Americans have supported this decision. We are a country that has suffered many deficits and should sympathize with those suffering, not pray on the weak. A border does not change the fact that we are all people. And that wall we want to build wont hide the shame in which America would undergo. I am not taking a stance on the wall but the idea of how the wall is being approached.
All this article is suggesting is to stop with the finger pointing, judgement, and illogical controversies. I hope that all people would look at each other as human beings and instead of seeing a person's differences, see them for who they really are, a person. America’s problems stem beyond the understandings I have listed, but if we all try to attempt to see with our hearts instead of our eyes I believe this nation would begin to change. I pray that you have the courage overcome mistaken rights and wrongs. And my condolences are with those affected by the absurd discrimination and acts of hate which have been displayed in this country. As said best by Dr. Martin Luther King JR., “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Remember these words when attempting to comprehend all of the recent hate crimes and despicable events. God Bless.
