Things I want to say

My heart breaks on a daily basis. There is so much suffering in the world and to witness people inflicting more suffering on each other with their words and actions and policies is overwhelmingly depressing. When I read the news or the no good, very bad internet comments, I hear that Kate Nash song playing in my head: "Why you being a dickhead for? Stop being a dickhead. Why you being a dickhead for? You're just fucking up situations." I have thought of writing that on so many posts. But I don't. Because it wouldn't make anything better, it would only make things worse. And it's kind of a dickhead move in itself. Thinking like that makes me part of the problem. Besides, what I really want to say is this:

That is a person you're talking about. 

A living, breathing person with thoughts and feelings and struggles and problems.

Just like everyone else. 

Just like you. 

It's a fallacy to think you're separate from them. 

So you don't agree with someone? Disagree with them while still seeing them as a PERSON and respecting their humanity. 

So you want to fight for change? Fight with with love and compassion, not hate and vitriol. 

When I find myself getting worked up about a post or comment I don't agree with, I remind myself to pause and breathe. I say to myself this is a person, just like me. Then I comment or I don't or I donate money. But I do whatever it is after calming myself down and removing my own ego from the equation. This is harder for me to do during live in-the-moment encounters, but I am working on that too.

There is obviously so much more that needs to be done, so many things that need to be made better for so many people. But this is something I can do every day, as a start. I'm not perfect and nothing I do is ever going to be perfect. I have a lot of strong opinions and feelings about how the world should be. Whether or not you agree with them, I care about you as a person. Whoever you are, you deserve safety and shelter and food/water and education and human rights and love. You deserve that. And so does everybody else.