There is no ignoring it. It is everywhere right now. No matter how out of touch you are with social media or T.V., somewhere, somehow you are going to hear about it. What you may ask? It's the hatred going on in our world.
Charlottesville is just a stark reminder of the violence and hatred in our world. How one race or religion can be so blinded by their own beliefs that the taking of a human life is somehow warranted. How being a certain sexual orientation makes you wrong in the eyes of God? Even carrying different political beliefs can cause mass violence. How did we get here?
How has our Nation become a place where toleration for those different than us has become something of the past? A Nation considered the melting pot of the world no longer accepts the differences of others. A Nation our Founding Fathers fought for. A land of the free.
We no longer stand side by side in unity as citizens of a great Nation. Instead, we have separated ourselves according to our beliefs, and some have allowed themselves to believe it is okay to do so. We have decided that it is okay to put our lives into neat little boxes, and those who don’t fit with us are wrong.
As a Nation, we have fought for the rights of others, and have had brave men and women stand as symbols for this. We had progressed so far in the area of civil rights, but somehow, we are taking steps back towards the time of segregation, except this time it isn’t just about race, but any differences we see as wrong.
This may sound extreme, but we are well on our way. There are currently 917 hate groups in the United States alone according to data from the Southern Poverty Law Center. Now, if you take that number and multiply it by the number of possible members, the numbers are staggering. How on earth can there be so much hate, and what brought us to this?
None of us are innocent in this epidemic of hatred. Whether we are personally involved in it, or we sit idly by with our heads buried in the sand, we are just as guilty. Taking positive action is the only way we are going to stop it.
The great Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Rather than judging one another for our differences, we need to respect one another for our unique views, no matter what they are. We may not always agree with someone’s choices, but then again, others may not agree with ours.
We were not put on earth to be robots with the same thoughts and beliefs. We were put on earth to share our unique gifts with one another, and to help the best we can. We have so much to offer one another, but fail to do so. We may be different in many ways, but we are still all a part of humanity.
As Mother Teresa once said, "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." Rather than hating the differences in others, get to know them, their values and their beliefs, don’t let ignorance stand in the way.
