Quiet Nights....
Hello friends. Quiet nights here lately, been struggling with some issues of fatigue and exhaustion. Not sure what’s going on and I probably need to see a doctor, but considering the current situation, I won’t be going anytime soon. Although, I will go soon as I am able, before my family reading this yells at me. Lol.
That being said, anyone else dealing with quiet nights? Slowly giving in to the daily annoyances that are posted on Facebook, Insta or Twitter by the minute? Long, slow nights of just shaking your head at the ridiculousness of it all, conspiracy theories, political drama, random bullshit, interspersed with racial drama? I can’t see anymore of it, I‘ve had enough for now.
Death, murder, and sickness just running rampant. Racism is a sickness. Allegheny County has recently declared racism a public health issue, due to the shocking facts being brought forth by the Corona virus and it’s effect on the black community, not to mention, the effect of pure, hate-fueled racism that the African American community faces every day. It‘s enough to make any normal person want to weep.
Haven’t we all had enough? Enough killing. Enough murder. Enough hate. Black on black crime. White on black. Straight on any person of any alternative lifestyle. It’s enough. Hatred is taught at home. I’ll let that sink in.
Hate. Is. Taught. At. Home.
Hate is nothing but failure to understand what you fear and why you fear it. Fear makes you feel small, makes you feel weak. Makes you question who you are. Courage is the opposite of hate. Courage to stand up and say “It’s enough.” Courage to look at someone or something you don’t understand and say “Help me understand. Let’s talk.“
Some people will say that love is the opposite of hate, but to love, you must have courage. It’s scary to look at another person different from ourselves and accept them, fully and without question, to hold a hand out or to be a friend. There’s always the fear of being hurt, being let down, or being outcast from our own inner circles. But look in the mirror, what if you were the different one? Look into the eyes of your child, what if they are the different one and you just don’t know it....yet?
Hate is taught at home. Racial separation is taught at home. Separation of classes, of lifestyles, of those lesser than how we perceive ourselves, is taught at home. Parents sneering racial slurs, calling others names, passing judgement on someone that they feel is beneath them. Small children repeat what they hear, they idolize their parents, they grow up with those same values, those same hatreds, even if they themselves are the very thing they have been taught to hate. Read that line again. I’ll wait.
“Even if they themselves are the very thing they have been taught to hate.“
How many young teens commit suicide because they cannot face coming out to their parents? How many young men attack other young men in hate crimes because they are hiding what they are? How many young teen girls cannot tell their parents that they are dating a black male? How many young black males are shot each year because people have been taught to fear them?
We hate what we fear. We fear what we don’t understand. Natural instinct is to remove what we fear. Kill it before it kills us. That may work for spiders, but I am talking about people. Humans. Mothers. Brothers. Sisters. Fathers. Friends. Cousins. People. We cannot act on primal urges. We are not savages. We are not beasts living in the jungle. We are people, with intelligence and free will. We can decide for ourselves. We have free will. We have courage. We have hope. We know how to love, to protect, to nourish.
My friends, I beg of you, find your courage. Offer up hope, love and protection to every person, all persons. At the very least, find your tolerance. Find your humanity before it is too late. Time is running out, just look around you. The news is filled with it. Humanity is slipping away.
I, for one, choose humanity. I will do what I can to offer hope, protection and love to those that need it, to those that may be viewed differently. I choose courage to accept you, to see you for your full potential and at the very, very least, to tolerate your views or opinions, even if I do not share in them. I accept your right to be a human, to exist, to live and to thrive.