What will History books say about 2017? Will they mention that Donald Trump was president? Will it mention how Kim and Kanye hired a surrogate? Will it mention the revolutionary iPhone updates that changed the world one Siri command at a time?
What will my future children be informed about? How they are hated for the color of their skin? How they may be restricted to live out their lives because their normal is not society's "normal"? How their successes may be a little bit tougher to navigate based on stereotypes?
Will teachers and elders be inclined to share key events like the travel ban and how the idea of nuclear war lingered on our braisn everyday? Will they teach the importance of the 2017 Women's March for its value and not because "It was the biggest march in history"? Will they teach of the terrors of the hate groups stopping the advancement of Unity around every corner?
Will they learn of the heroes that defend all human rights or of the terrible leaders that chose to do nothing while their country was crying? Will they learn to live in fear or to live in love? Will they read and be encouraged or read and become scared? Will they learn that the only minority are those who chose to hate or are the minority the ones who serve different gods? Will they understand the similarities of the past and how they are incorporated to the differences of the future?
Will it mention how history continues to repeat itself or will it highlight the beginning of a revolution?
I pray it highlights the era of change. I pray it highlights the stop to hatred age. I pray it highlights heroism and the conversation of how changed developed rather than how this hatred started another civil or world war. I pray it highlights faith instead of fear. But in order for it to be written, it must be accomplished. So from this day forward, I propose a challenge to not stay silent but add to the conversation, practice what you preach, love your neighbor as you love yourself and maybe, we will begin to see hatred defeated.
So, what will our history books say about how we lived our lives in 2017? What legacy will we leave? What will the plot and theme be? Was it a stretch towards unity or the death of you and me?
