I tend toward the extremes in life sometimes. I'm either up or I'm down. The inbetween is most likely a melancholy.
That's today.
I saw it coming. In the last week I've been tired and at a low ebb. It's colored how I see things in life right now. And while - generally speaking - I'm a happy and optimistic person, I'm starting to feel myself turn inward.
There are so many things I need to do - primarily rid my life of boxes and boxes of stuff in my garage. The pile is so much smaller than it was years ago - but letting go is difficult at times. It's also difficult because I tend toward strong memories - and these boxes are full of them.
I learned at a very early age that life can change in the blink of an eye. Because of that I've gone through life "making memories" of people and times. Where most people in this world just go through a day - I tend to focus on something to remember - something to hold onto and something that will bring the memories back. I've done this so long that I really don't realize I'm doing it. It's subconscious on my part.
But today I went through 3 boxes. And while I ended up throwing or giving most of their contents away, I held onto a small shoebox of cards and letters - all from the 1980's. I found a phone book of people that are mostly no longer in my life; wedding cards, anniversary cards, Christmas cards, birthday cards - mostly from my mom who died Oct 2, 2001. Cards my ex-husband and I gave to one another during those 1st few years of our marriage - those incredibly happy years when nothing could drive a wedge between us. And while I gave that marriage everything, alcoholism divided us and I called it quits after almost 25 years. But the '80's...they were some good, good times.
With what has happened in Norway, and what continues to happen in our world today - with the bickering and BS of our own political parties and our own seemingly willingness to implode - my heart is heavy.
I'm saddened because of the pain felt worldwide.
And this has always saddened me. The hunger, the fear, the death, the hatred - sometimes it just all seems overwhelming.
Yet, I know there are many more people who are kind and loving. People who put others before themselves and unselfishly stand beside those less fortunate.
The world is more kind than hateful - more loving and more giving.
This is what I need to remember and focus on.
The lives of those I loved in the past are forever with me in my memories. And while I cannot bring them back physically, I can live with the knowledge that I gave them my heart willingly and knowingly. I allowed myself to be open to them and to remember our times together.
I pray that those people who are hurting today - both in Norway and elsewhere in this world - can find that they also made memories of each and every day they were with their loved ones. I pray that they find the comfort of these memories in the future when the severity of their loss and their pain starts to subside.
I pray that - together - we can find comfort and peace and give enough love to one another so that others may never know the heartache of terroristic death.
Imagine all the people
living life in peace
you may say i'm a dreamer
but i'm not the only one
<em>26</em>
Showing posts with label hatred. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hatred. Show all posts
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Imagine all the people - living life in peace...
So what's wrong with us?
As a society on a whole?
Why do we perpetuate hatred and allow it to continue day in and day out?
Seriously. Have we learned nothing in my lifetime?
I have been around this earth for 50 years. During that time I have lived through historical acts of fear, ignorance and unspeakable acts of hatred aimed at people who have done nothing other than to try and live in this world.
And why is this? So many people have stepped forward to say this behavior is wrong - that it will not be tolerated - that it must change. Yet, it doesn't change. It is tolerated. And there are just as many people who are willing to turn a blind eye to it everyday.
What is wrong with us?
Why do people allow hatred to continue?
Worse yet - why are there still people out there that push for its very existence?
Don't tell me I'm wrong. I know they are out there. I've dealt with them. I've seen how they raise their kids. I've heard their rhetoric of ignorance thrown back at the peacekeepers - as if the venom, if yelled louder, will become the right and destroy those who quietly strive for peace.
True - this is the way our world has existed for 1,000's of years - and on a much grander scale. But that doesn't make it okay. It doesn't give credence to a parent's right to instill hatred in their child.
Dear God, it's not a Constitutional Right to maintain stupidity and support your child's ability to heap hatred upon another child!
What is wrong with basic tolerance?
What is wrong with basic human respect?
What is wrong with simply being polite to one another?
Everything you do affects another. Period. We should be aware of our actions and not suppose, or even superimpose them upon another without recognizing that they are doing the exact same thing with their actions. We can be annoyed at another or ignorant of another - but the reality is - the actions will affect someone.
Politeness and kindness are easy. But only if the person choses to exhibit that behavior. Rudeness is a choice. Ignorance is a choice. It doesn't reside in a certain class or income of people. It exists because that person choses to be selfish and ignorant of others.
I've learned that I can't change certain attitudes for the betterment of society. Which leads into a socialogical thought of whose ideals are right and whose are wrong. Is that even realistic? I don't think so.
I do not believe that it is my duty or even my right to "change" someone by trying to force them to comply with my behavior. What I do believe is that - given the overall ideal of kindness toward one's fellow human being - it is our responsibility as a collective group to bring about awareness of all. It IS our responsibility to other humans to tolerate their differences - and to allow them the basic human right of survival in a horribly, difficult world.
Why the hell is this so damned difficult? Can't we get any farther than this in the art of kindness toward one another? This isn't an issue of how we have changed, it's an issue of not changing at all.
Pay it forward. Pay it backward. Just pay attention to those around you. Being polite, being kind, being tolerant, isn't giving in. It's acknowledging that others have a right to exist.
And before you say any differently - remember YOU have that right to exist. And you don't make the rules. We are all in this together. We don't have to like each other, but we do need to coexist.
We need to stop the vicious cycle of bullying. We need to stop the vicious cycle of accepted hatred. We need to stop being willfully ignorant of the suffering our turning a blind eye can cause another human being.
We have to realize these are children - the very people we have brought into this world as our legacy to society.
Aren't we supposed to hope for a better life for our children? For our Grandchildren? For Society on a whole?
Doesn't that better world start at home?
As a society on a whole?
Why do we perpetuate hatred and allow it to continue day in and day out?
Seriously. Have we learned nothing in my lifetime?
I have been around this earth for 50 years. During that time I have lived through historical acts of fear, ignorance and unspeakable acts of hatred aimed at people who have done nothing other than to try and live in this world.
And why is this? So many people have stepped forward to say this behavior is wrong - that it will not be tolerated - that it must change. Yet, it doesn't change. It is tolerated. And there are just as many people who are willing to turn a blind eye to it everyday.
What is wrong with us?
Why do people allow hatred to continue?
Worse yet - why are there still people out there that push for its very existence?
Don't tell me I'm wrong. I know they are out there. I've dealt with them. I've seen how they raise their kids. I've heard their rhetoric of ignorance thrown back at the peacekeepers - as if the venom, if yelled louder, will become the right and destroy those who quietly strive for peace.
True - this is the way our world has existed for 1,000's of years - and on a much grander scale. But that doesn't make it okay. It doesn't give credence to a parent's right to instill hatred in their child.
Dear God, it's not a Constitutional Right to maintain stupidity and support your child's ability to heap hatred upon another child!
What is wrong with basic tolerance?
What is wrong with basic human respect?
What is wrong with simply being polite to one another?
Everything you do affects another. Period. We should be aware of our actions and not suppose, or even superimpose them upon another without recognizing that they are doing the exact same thing with their actions. We can be annoyed at another or ignorant of another - but the reality is - the actions will affect someone.
Politeness and kindness are easy. But only if the person choses to exhibit that behavior. Rudeness is a choice. Ignorance is a choice. It doesn't reside in a certain class or income of people. It exists because that person choses to be selfish and ignorant of others.
I've learned that I can't change certain attitudes for the betterment of society. Which leads into a socialogical thought of whose ideals are right and whose are wrong. Is that even realistic? I don't think so.
I do not believe that it is my duty or even my right to "change" someone by trying to force them to comply with my behavior. What I do believe is that - given the overall ideal of kindness toward one's fellow human being - it is our responsibility as a collective group to bring about awareness of all. It IS our responsibility to other humans to tolerate their differences - and to allow them the basic human right of survival in a horribly, difficult world.
Why the hell is this so damned difficult? Can't we get any farther than this in the art of kindness toward one another? This isn't an issue of how we have changed, it's an issue of not changing at all.
Pay it forward. Pay it backward. Just pay attention to those around you. Being polite, being kind, being tolerant, isn't giving in. It's acknowledging that others have a right to exist.
And before you say any differently - remember YOU have that right to exist. And you don't make the rules. We are all in this together. We don't have to like each other, but we do need to coexist.
We need to stop the vicious cycle of bullying. We need to stop the vicious cycle of accepted hatred. We need to stop being willfully ignorant of the suffering our turning a blind eye can cause another human being.
We have to realize these are children - the very people we have brought into this world as our legacy to society.
Aren't we supposed to hope for a better life for our children? For our Grandchildren? For Society on a whole?
Doesn't that better world start at home?
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