Thanks? ... giving

Picture credit: Microsoft

Wow, what an emotional couple of weeks.  In the time leading up to the election, my daily mantra was, “it’s almost over … it’ll be over soon.”  It almost was a requirement to help me get through the day.  Once America voted, I thought all the stress and trepidation for the future would leave in a snap.  I was wrong.  Things seem to have gotten worse, if even possible.  Right now, this is a world where I feel scared and unsure of the future, where I worry that all the progressive steps we’ve taken forward to put things in place to help everyone succeed will wither away.

And then there’s this:  hateful people.  Everywhere.  I never knew there was so much hate.  I thought about this a lot before sitting down to write this.  I wondered if we didn’t start this by pitting ourselves against each other with this idea of left and right.  This year in particular has really seemed to divide us, and now the ideology of being liberal or conservative has become a bad word, depending on which camp you talk to.  Everyone who leans toward the left with their beliefs apparently is considered a whiny liberal that needs a participation trophy now.  Everyone on the right apparently wear the moniker of “racist asshole.”

Stop.  Just stop already.  Stop putting people in a box and labeling them because it’s easier to dismiss them and don’t want to listen or hear what they have to say.  This is what got us here in the first place.  Not only did we stop talking to each other, we stopped listening and trying to understand each other’s point of view.  You don’t have to agree with each other, but at least listen.  People are people, not liberals, delicate snowflakes, whiners, racists, assholes, rednecks … whatever label you’ve put on them. People have genuine concerns and fears … and I’m not talking just during a particular strange and stressful election year, I mean all the time.  When you put a label to them and stop listening to what they have to say, it feels like the ultimate brush off, a giant “fuck you,” if you will.  

Why do you think people walk around with banners and signs chanting, “Black Lives Matter?”  Because they have struggles and fears that people seem to dismiss and this is the only way they feel they can get their message across and to have people open their ears to hear them again.  Why do you think the masses came out in protest against the new President-elect?  Same idea … they want their voice heard that they are afraid and unhappy with where our country may be going and they don’t feel our new President-elect will have our best interest or intentions.  You may not agree, but that’s how they feel.  At least let them feel heard before telling them to shut the fuck up or go home and get off the streets.  Protesting has been around for a long time (how do you think the 19^th Amendment came to be?  Or the Civil Rights Movement?) and it will be around for many more years to come.

On this eve of Thanksgiving where we’ll be sitting down with family and spending time with each other, I give you this advice:  next time you see or hear something you disagree with, instead of resorting to anger take a moment and ask questions.  Open a dialogue with those that you don’t understand.  You might just learn something.