I avoid writing/talking about important issues, especially on the internet. It's not because I don't care, or are completely oblivious to what's going on in the world around me. It's because everyone has their opinions. It's very easy to misconstrue what a person says/writes based on how you interpret things. How you may interpret things is based on your own personal feelings on the subject. I've noticed that I do this. As an unenlightened human, it's hard to separate personal feelings with truths, especially when they're not in your favor. I get defensive and angry when the truth isn't something that I want to face.
I touched briefly upon these issues before but didn't go into detail. I'm not sure why I feel compelled to now. I guess because I feel helpless.
I'm talking about racism. I'm talking about discrimination of all kind. I was listening to someone I follow on YouTube a few months ago. She was talking about Black Lives Matter, and how she knew that they didn't need another white voice to defend them, but she had things to say and wanted to give input and insight on what other white people could do to be helpful. I've read some comments, and there was some negative feedback about her "white privilege" and how they didn't need her to say anything at all. How they didn't need any white person to say anything at all.
This bothers me. I acknowledge that as a white person there are a shit ton of things that I'll never understand. I'll never know the level of discrimination that other people have to endure on a daily basis. My only "problem" is that I'm a woman. Sexism is an issue, but not one that I personally deal with daily, being a recluse.
How are we meant to destroy racism/discrimination if we're not allowed/wanted for that fight? What am I supposed to do to remove the hate from the world? How can I stand up to the injustice of it all? I can only do what I'm doing now...write about it here and hope that it matters to someone.
It's embarrassingly obvious that white people have done horrendous things throughout history and even present day. It's never been something that I could wrap my head around. It never made sense to me that one person thought it was right to own another person. It never made sense that people justified killing other people because of the color of their skin or religious beliefs or sexual orientation. I used to think we lived in an educated world, but sadly, with all the killings and hate crimes that are happening now...we don't. It's scary. It's frustrating. It's sad. It's a real issue, and it's one that needs to be tackled and obliterated.
But it's not just white people. Humans, in general, can be full of senseless hate. Why? Why do we think we can hurt other people? How do some people find it so easy to do?
Part of the beauty of the world is our differences. I've always been interested in other people's cultures and religions. I try to educate myself because I believe that in our core, we're all the same. We have the same basic needs, regardless of if we have the same color skin, or pray to one god or many, or none at all. We love. We want to be loved. We want to succeed in life and be happy. There's absolutely no reason that we need to put other people down to do so. There's absolutely no reason why we should belittle someone else to feel good about ourselves.
So, I say to you, regardless of your skin color, religious belief or lack thereof, whether you're gay, straight, bisexual, transgender, asexual, if you have a disability, and any other label out there that I missed or don't know about, YOU ARE IMPORTANT. You are beautiful. You matter. You can achieve greatness, and I hope that you succeed in life. I hope that whatever hardships you've had to endure only make you stronger. Your voice matters.
We have to be better than our past. Better than the negative people that surround us. We have to believe in ourselves and believe in each other and walk away from people who try to bring us down. We need to stand together and hope that enough of us join hands to hold the line. We'll be a sickeningly powerful forcefield of positivity and love. We need to help each other rise above social constraints. We need to encourage each other. We need to acknowledge that even though we may have some differences, we can be on the same team, we can close the gaps that other people say should separate us.
