This has been a big year for realizing how different each of us is in this nation. Whether it be the contentious election results, the Black Lives Matter movement or whether or not a hot dog is a sandwich (trust me it's an intense debate), we are pretty divided as a country at the moment. It isn't getting better either, as we are in a time where we aren't (and shouldn't be) trustung of our own country, its government and representatives, and what we read in the paper every day. It's pretty f***ing terrifying, and consequently, we both, as individuals and country-wise, struggle to find an identity.
More than ever, we are unable to put differences aside and seem to be more willing to start conflict. While in some cases, that is a good thing; it can also, on occasio, lead to unnecessary tensions, exaggerations and people resenting one another over trivial, stupid facts that if anyone sat down and talked about, we could at the very least, get on with our lives if not solve our problems.
This Heineken commercial sums it up pretty well:
What this effectively shows is the power of both perspective and education. First, it shows the value of perspective in knowing how you got your respective perspective, as well as how others got theirs, even if they're totally different than yours. Second, it speaks towards education, not from an on-paper perspective, but having the knowledge to be willing to research said perspective and the willingness to accept others and not be binary in regards to a singular trait of thought.
We're all different from one another. I'm a white dude from Texas who lives in a suite with 7 other dudes from different states and countries, with different backgrounds, interests and hobbies, but we are all smart enough to put that aside and get along. We should be angry about racism, sexism, about things that go on politically and the deep-seated issues that this country has. There isn't a place for hate in this country, and anybody who honestly believes somebody is lesser because of where they're from, what they believe in or who they are on the outside should be ashamed of themselves, and get out, because they're the problem.
At the same time, every sentence isn't a political statement, every movie isn't a shot at your beliefs and every article that is saying how one way is great isn't saying that yours sucks (unless it does). What I mean is, as a nation, we need to keep fighting, but at the same time, in many cases we just need to calm down. I can't get through my timeline on Twitter without at least one person calling out somebody for being racist or sexist when about half the time it's pretty easy to tell that they weren't trying to be. We're not perfect humans and we need to give each other a break. Maybe listen like they did in that commercial and you'll understand where people are coming from. We need to educate ourselves in regards to putting aside our differences and learn to accept people who are different.
When somebody is going through a hard time in their lives, we tend to give them some space, not pick apart everything they say or do and give them time to grow or recover. America, this seems to be that time for us, for better or worse, so let's just all try to get along (or at least put up with) one another, because at least until global warming or a missile comes we're not going anywhere.
