Happy Belated Valentine’s Day!
I waited a few days because I’m not writing a mushy love poem. I thought about that, but then I thought again.
Do we really need a day to remember to love each other? Can’t/shouldn’t we do that every day? Oh, and if it’s only the person we’re with…should we *need* a reminder?
These are questions that I have had all my life. You see, I’m not a big believer in “That’s just the way it is”. If we have free agency, why can’t we make it different? And then there’s my very favorite: “LIFE’S NOT FAIR.”
Why?
I am closer to sixty than to fifty years old, and I still really want to know the answer to that.
Why isn’t life fair? Why do we not treat others the way we want to be treated? Why are there some people whom others think don’t deserve to be treated with dignity and respect? Why don’t we agree that there’s only one race (the Human race, if you need a reminder)? Why do we fear what we don’t understand? Why do we fear accountability? Why do we fear differences? Why do we need the Golden Rule? Why do we need a reminder to love each other? WHY ISN’T LIFE FAIR?
As of this writing, there are 8,091,632,664 people on the planet.
(Source: https://www.worldometers.info/world population/#:~:text=8.1%20Billion%20(current),currently%20living)%20of%20the%20world.).
According to most religions, God gave us free will to choose as we wish. Assuming both of these are true, what’s stopping us from making life fair?
I have friends from all walks of life. People from different countries, different religions (or none at all), different skin tones, different first languages, different hair and eye colors, different life experiences, different economic circ*mstances, different everything; and people whose experiences and backgrounds are very similar to my own. And I love each of those people for everything they are to me, and for everything they allow me to be for them.
I’m not color blind, I see the differences as clear as you see this blog. What I don’t see is the reason why the differences matter. What I don’t see is how a group of people can decide that another group of people are “less than” - or not people at all.
There comes a time in every person’s life where we become responsible for our own thoughts, words, and actions. There comes a time when we can look around us and decide for ourselves what we believe. When we don’t have to do what we’re told anymore, and we can look at our own experiences and decide for ourselves how “good” or “bad” a person is, individually. Where we can see that most people who are different than us don’t fit the stereotype we were raised to believe (or heard from others who were raised to believe it).
As a people, armed with Free Will, we can make a positive difference in this world. Now, I’m not tasking everyone to go out and change the entire world now that we realize we can. What I’m suggesting is that we look at the world differently. Just a little. Look into our own experiences and see if they align with the negative being spewed everywhere these days. If they don’t, maybe we can learn that things aren’t as negative as some would ask us to believe.
Let’s look at our personal experiences and see if we really have a reason to fear another person just because of the color of their skin, or the country they were born in, or the language they speak, or who they love.
There are 8,091,632,664 people on this planet. I am convinced that we are all here at the same time to help each other through this thing called life. Hating is not helping. Fear is not helping. Judging a person we’ve never met, because someone says we should, is not helping. Life is hard enough without the self-imposed misery we buy into. Let’s just take another look, and see if that’s necessary, shall we? Together, I know that we can make a positive difference. And there are 8,091,632,663 people around you who can help.
We may not change the world, but we can change our part of it. And imagine - with 8,091,632,663 other people changing their part of it - what a world we can have!
I want to be clear: This doesn’t mean, in any way, that you have to “love everyone” or put up with toxic anything from anyone. There are people in my life who I can’t be in the same room with and that, sadly, won’t change. But we can treat even those people with dignity and respect, just the same. We don’t have to talk to them, but we also don’t have to talk *about* them. There is never a time when making someone look bad makes us look good. Never a time when tearing someone down builds us up. Never a “joke” that’s funny if it hurts another - even if everyone else in the room laughs.
So…will you be my valentine? Will you try looking at life through your own experiences, and make decisions about others based on who they are to you, rather than what you hear from others?
Can we try to love each other every day instead of one day a year? Can we live the Golden Rule instead of talking about it? Can we make life fair for everyone? I believe that we can, if we put our minds to it. I’m starting with my part of the world.
Will you join me?
All the love,
- Becca ❤
