In the past few weeks alone, we have seen countless accounts of tragedies and hate crimes. Between the loss of the gorilla in the Cincinnati Zoo, the Stanford rape case, the loss of Christina Grimmie and the shooting in the Orlando nightclub, it's hard to refrain from pessimism and a negative outlook on the state of humanity.
With the prominent presence of social media in modern society, news travels around the world in seconds. Right below the news, we view the opinions of others, and it's hard not to let our feelings overpower us. We feel a mix of emotions, ranging from sadness to outrage to confusion. What we must not feel, or at least not act upon, is hate.
Whenever any tragedy happens, everyone is quick to point fingers, and many people get swept up in an overwhelming whirlwind of emotion.
"The mother of the child should've been the one shot."
"This is what we get for letting Muslims into our country."
It's quite easy to understand the sentiment behind these messages, but what is the good in jumping to conclusions and making generalizations? Why don't people think about what they're really saying? These are not the thoughts we should be sharing. Humans have a set of base emotions that we must work to fight against. It's in our nature to want to elevate ourselves by putting others down, whether physically, verbally or emotionally. The entire basis of the hatred in our world, and the actions that it causes, is selfishness.
So what can we do? How do we fight for a better world?
I believe there are a few steps we can take. Now, I know for a fact that I don't know everything, and I have no control in the lives of others. My goal is to get everyone to think a little more carefully about their words and actions.
When tragedy strikes, we want to find someone to blame. In some scenarios, this is easy to do. In other scenarios, we must not jump to conclusions if we were not present at the exact time tragedy struck. We also have to be careful not to blame the wrong person. In a rape crime, we absolutely cannot blame the victim. In a terrorist attack, we cannot blame an entire population based on a stereotype. We can only blame who is truly at fault, and while we must cry for justice, we must remain humane. Sometimes, no one is at fault, and we can only work together to recover. We receive the initial shock, and take some time to regain our composure.
Then, we fight back. Not through more violence, and not through hate. We fight by making sure that these events are not forgotten. We fight by becoming more knowledgeable and more accepting of the diversity that exists on Earth. We fight by recognizing all the injustice of the world, and we fight even harder for those that are marginalized. We fight by looking in ourselves and recognizing the prejudices that have been ingrained into us since birth, whether intentional or not, and we fight by overcoming our internal "wiring." We fight by spreading love and finding our place in this world. We fight by putting the needs of others before our own. We fight by showing the world we will not stand for this hate. We fight through doing whatever we can to make sure everyone's voice is heard.
It's not easy. I'm guilty of falling to my base emotions myself. I'm not expecting to see world peace in my current lifetime. I wouldn't be surprised if we never achieved world peace at all. In a way, it fuels a fire to want to prove myself wrong. Changing the world is as simple as a random act of kindness, and if you're able to expand that, then great. I believe my place in this world is to inspire through music. No, I'm not performing life-saving surgery in third world countries, but I believe that music is a powerful and positive way to release all kinds of emotion and a way to inspire even those who may have given up and given in. If everyone can find some way to make their own minuscule contribution to society, and seek tolerance of everyone else's contribution, then we may have a chance of progressing.
The next time tragedy strikes, think twice before posting that hateful comment. Reach out to the community affected rather than focusing on the people at fault. Reflect on what we can do to move forward, and take a step, no matter how small, in that direction.
