Charlottesville, Virginia.
This is not the first time we have seen marches of Neo-Nazis, White Nationalists, and other Hateful groups gather together to express an opinion. It has been happening in the USA before our country was even born. Ever since white Europeans sailed the ocean to colonize this country, we have had massive mobilizations of hate-filled people attempting to "make this land great!"
It is disheartening to see that after all this time there are still so many of us who feel like the freedom they deserve can only be achieve by minimizing and destroying the people who they misguidedly believe are in their way. Running cars though people as if they are nothing but dirt on the road. It is disgusting.
Then I look at the people who are doing counter-protests in some areas holding signs about love as they knock down statues, break windows, and display violence. And I think: You are doing it wrong!
I have been struggling to understand why. Truly, why? Why is this kind of hatred being bred into so many individuals? Why are we normalizing this kind of violence towards each other. Hate in any form towards an individual based on defining characteristics such as the color of their skin, their religious beliefs, or who/how they love is wrong. Doing violence towards the people who disagree with you or are different due to color, religion, or love is wrong.
For those of you who want to be heard, who want to show where you stand - do not be moved into action by hate! If you truly believe that LOVE TRUMPS HATE - please do not go and cause hate-crimes against the people who are on the other side. If you want to show someone who is full of hate why they are wrong then you must meet them with love, not violence, not more hate. Be the peace. Be the calm. Be loud about it! But STOP the violence.
We fought in a war against this kind of hate. So many people have already died for the cause of annihilating hate. Apparently, those people have died for no reason at all because the hate from that war has carried on. This time, perhaps we can win this conflict not by killing and sacrificing life, but by defining better goals for life to thrive within.
How can we collectively CHANGE how people who are in hate groups see the world.
Here is a great quote from a batman comic book my son has: "You need to understand why the other children see you the way they do, Bruce... And then change the way they see things." - Martha Wayne (Justice League, Dark Reflections P. 4)
I don't know how to achieve this, but I know that meeting hate with hate does not create love and understanding. Can we please do this right?
This is not the first time we have seen marches of Neo-Nazis, White Nationalists, and other Hateful groups gather together to express an opinion. It has been happening in the USA before our country was even born. Ever since white Europeans sailed the ocean to colonize this country, we have had massive mobilizations of hate-filled people attempting to "make this land great!"
It is disheartening to see that after all this time there are still so many of us who feel like the freedom they deserve can only be achieve by minimizing and destroying the people who they misguidedly believe are in their way. Running cars though people as if they are nothing but dirt on the road. It is disgusting.
Then I look at the people who are doing counter-protests in some areas holding signs about love as they knock down statues, break windows, and display violence. And I think: You are doing it wrong!
I have been struggling to understand why. Truly, why? Why is this kind of hatred being bred into so many individuals? Why are we normalizing this kind of violence towards each other. Hate in any form towards an individual based on defining characteristics such as the color of their skin, their religious beliefs, or who/how they love is wrong. Doing violence towards the people who disagree with you or are different due to color, religion, or love is wrong.
For those of you who want to be heard, who want to show where you stand - do not be moved into action by hate! If you truly believe that LOVE TRUMPS HATE - please do not go and cause hate-crimes against the people who are on the other side. If you want to show someone who is full of hate why they are wrong then you must meet them with love, not violence, not more hate. Be the peace. Be the calm. Be loud about it! But STOP the violence.
We fought in a war against this kind of hate. So many people have already died for the cause of annihilating hate. Apparently, those people have died for no reason at all because the hate from that war has carried on. This time, perhaps we can win this conflict not by killing and sacrificing life, but by defining better goals for life to thrive within.
How can we collectively CHANGE how people who are in hate groups see the world.
Here is a great quote from a batman comic book my son has: "You need to understand why the other children see you the way they do, Bruce... And then change the way they see things." - Martha Wayne (Justice League, Dark Reflections P. 4)
I don't know how to achieve this, but I know that meeting hate with hate does not create love and understanding. Can we please do this right?
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