Thursday, June 4, 2020

Losing Our Humanity

I haven't posted anything on social media about George Floyd and all of the surrounding issues.  And I haven't gone out and protested.  Because I don't believe those methods will effect real change in the world today.  I suppose it's debatable, and if you do, then go for it.  I wish you well.

But it seems to me that this is a problem that requires a personal touch.  I'm all for changing the laws if  you can show me a law that you think will help.  I think the Innocence Project does great work and people should give them money.  And we all need to vote our conscience.  But racism is never going to be voted or regulated out of existence.  I believe people change when shown truth and love.  And I'm not seeing that.

What I see is people dehumanizing each other.  The cops that killed George Floyd, whether due to racism or simply a lack of care, had stopped thinking of him as a human being.  The cops who tear-gassed the peaceful crowds ahead of Trump's photo-op weren't thinking of those people as their fellow human beings.  The looters aren't considering how they're hurting real people.  And the people yelling at and criticizing each other on Facebook aren't stopping to think about how they themselves would like to be talked to.

We're treating each other as ... other.  As less than.  But that person with a different opinion than yours (who may very well be wrong) deserves to be treated better.  They deserve to be treated as a child of God.

We're all doing it, me included.  Probably the lockdown has exacerbated this, as we're all shut away from each other.  But it's been going on and getting worse and worse. 

I've said this before and I believe it to be true: the little things are the big things.  I believe the small acts of kindness have a greater effect in the world than we realize.  A kind word at the right time.  Standing still and listening to someone you find annoying.  An encouraging smile.  Or just holding your tongue.  And then, when appropriate and it's been earned, speaking the truth in love. 

So that's what I'm going to keep trying to do.

1 comment:

  1. I agree to all of this except I don't want to listen to people I find annoying. ;)
    J/K -are you gonna keep blogging?

    ReplyDelete