What happens next

Same mistakes, different outcome

As darkness descends and the moonlight shines down on what remains of the another day of chaos most of us can sit locked indoors, shielded away and try to imagine that the earth’s unfolding events and those affected by them are still a long way away from our own reality.  Some of us believe this through ignorance, others as a means of survival because the cold harsh reality is too crushing to accept. Come Monday morning we can laugh with work colleagues about what we watched on the television this weekend and most likely pass judgement on those who have been making the news.

Maybe on the way home that evening you need to commute, maybe you will see things scrawled on the walls that weren’t there the day before. You might see boarded up windows and you might see more police than you are used to seeing. You will see people with masks covering their faces now, and when you see those of different races and religions you may wonder if they wish you harm? You may see people of the same race and religion and wonder exactly the same? This is the new normal for us and all you can really think about is how fast you can get home and be locked in doors safe and sound.

Back indoors you can take your shield down, you can turn on the news and see what the rest of the world is doing. How many are fighting? How many are dying and how our elected leaders are tackling the issues at hand? For most of us little seems to be going in the direction we would hope. For every good act there seems maybe a half dozen bad ones but what we consider bad may be good for others and so on and so forth.

Compromise and understanding is needed now more than ever during these troubled times, some will feel they’ve already compromised too much and there is nothing more to give. Maybe it’s a change we need more than compromise? Do these words mean different things to different people? How can we even begin to understand our neighbors’ disdain without understanding our own first?

Maybe before we can do anything else in this world we need to take a step back, put our fists down and embrace love. Regardless of race, religion or creed we can surely agree that love ultimately needs to prevail before we can begin to change what needs to change. Love seems to be what’s missing most in this world but with love we can conquer anything. So before we sit back and watch the news, or listen to the radio lets not pass judgement. Let’s not look down to those doing jobs we feel beneath us, let’s not judge the people breaking laws in order to survive, let us embrace and love those people because most likely what’s led them to that moment is a lack of love and understanding.

We can never stop learning about each other and learning about not only what separates us but most of all what joins us, let’s allow some humanity back into our human lives and for the sake of our planet let’s change what’s never been changed. We can change this world without war this time around and we’ve never had a bigger opportunity than what we have now, let’s not waste it.

Originally published at Thrive Global USA on June/14/2020.

 What happens next.