Let me start this article off with a little secret: life is hard.
OK, so maybe that isn't a secret, but hear me out. Have you ever actually thought of all the pain and suffering throughout the world? All the loneliness? All the hurt? Even if you have, how do you comprehend or fathom the concept? You can't. Our minds create this lovely defense mechanism that prevents us from feeling the weight of the world. It's called denial.
For me, it's different. Sometimes I feel as though I see and feel everything. I feel the same embarrassment someone feels when they sense no one is listening to their story they have tried to say five times, but their friends keep talking over them. I feel the sadness and heartbreak of the stranger who's crying at the mall. I see the sad glazed eyes of the old man eating breakfast alone at a diner. I see and feel it all.
Social media has allowed us all to have eyes on the inside of different people's minds. When tragic events occur... everyone wants a say. Everyone wants a voice. Everyone wants to matter.
Most of the time we complain having to see our timelines and newsfeed flooded with opinions on these controversial topics. But let me tell you another secret — these people are angry, and they simply want their voices to be heard by someone. Anyone.
The thing is, we've always felt alone. Emotionally, I barely believe we have evolved. Mentally, perhaps a tad. But really, where's the proof? From the beginning of time, we as a species have always had violence amongst one another. It's practically programmed in our DNA.
From our first days to our last, we will fight amongst each other. Why is this so? We are animals who are protective of what we have and what we love. We fight for our beliefs, we fight for our values, we fight to protect the people we love, we fight for our homes... we fight for our country.
While we have brave men and women overseas protecting this country from terrorism, we're performing acts of terrorism here in the USA. I try to open my mind up to the perspective of the ignorant who actually make an opinion of another solely based on appearance/culture/religion. This isn't even in regards to just cops and African Americans. It's everybody in every situation.
We automatically have assumptions on people we encounter before we even speak to them. Does anyone else realize how ridiculous that is? How can you presume to even know the slightest bit about someone's story and hardships they've overcome just by appearance?
Practically everyone is hurting, and practically everyone feels alone from time to time. You have to learn to open your minds to the fact that together we stand, divided we fall. Living with so much hatred and dread over such feeble things will destroy you and destroy the rest of the world. You have to remember what it was like when you were a kid and such things did not matter. You have to remember who you were before the world told you who you ought to be.
