Over the past year or so, I've thought and thought about where we as a people are going wrong. Why there's so much hurt, hate, and disagreement. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind differing opinions. I'm more than open to hear other people's sides to see where they're coming from, and to let them know mine. With that being said, though, there are certain opinions that I just consider wrong. Believing that other races don't deserve equal opportunities, that women don't deserve the right to choose what happens to their bodies, that the LGBTQIA+ community is hated by God. I understand that not everyone agrees with me but these are are beliefs that I cannot accept or validate.
I've come to the conclusion that the ability to feel empathy is almost a talent these days. Or maybe it always has been, but I couldn't see it through my naive lenses. So many people are so stuck in their experiences, and don't know how to or don't want to try to think about anyone else's.
I had a little bit of a confrontation with a family member-ish (if that's what you want to call her). Of course, it was political, because that's what everything is these days. She was pro Trump, and I am against him and his beliefs, actions, and presidency. Amongst her speech aimed at converting me to Trump-ism, she made racial comments, misogynistic comments (which I did not see coming, because of her identity as a woman), and honestly, pieces of information that seemed to have come straight from The Onion (a satirical news site - http://www.theonion.com). And I looked at her, with tears in my eyes, unable to understand how someone could be so obsessed with her own life. That someone could be so closed minded to the experiences and feelings of others. I don't have the ability to look at someone who is different than me, and say that they don't matter just because of where they were born, who they were born as. I didn't do anything to earn the privileges that I have, so why should we treat people who didn't do anything to receive the opposite things like I'm any better.
It seems like just a select few people know how to place themselves in another's shoes. If you really think about the way that the world could change if more people just cared more about what other people's lives looked like, wars could be stopped, hate crimes prevented, and people actually feeling welcomed and loved as human beings, who deserve to be looked at as equals. Don't blindly follow someone just because of their position of power. Think before you speak. Love more than you hate.
Have a good night, friends. xoxo
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