I’m really at a loss for words at the amount of unspeakable tragedies I’ve been hearing about lately. It seems that every day, I turn on the news, and I hear about another life being lost. Another daughter, sister, niece, mother, son, brother, nephew, or father had their life cut short due to careless and senseless violence. I can’t seem to wrap my mind around any of it.
What is the world coming to? There is more hatred that exists today than I ever imagined possible, and my greatest fear is that it is only going to get worse. If only we fought as hard to understand and accept each other, as we do to hate and argue with each other, then the world would be a much better place. Sadly, I don’t know if that will ever happen. We live in a world where people feel the need to have their opinions validated all the time, no matter what. People are so quick to judge others if their opinion or outlook on life is slightly different than their own. This judgment, these disagreements, all of this hatred…it can’t be solved with violence. It just can’t. All violence is going to do is add more fuel to the fire. It’s going to intensify that hatred even more, and cause further tragic events to keep happening.
Is that really the kind of world that you want our future generations to grow up in? To teach them that it’s okay to dislike or hate someone because of the color of their skin, their ethnicity, their religion, or whatever beliefs that they may hold? Martin Luther King, Jr. didn’t fight as hard as he did to have racism still be as much of an issue as it is today. Women didn’t fight for equal rights as much as they did to have feminists still fighting for what they fought for so long ago. I could go on and on about how I feel that the world we live in today is literally a slap in the face to some of the most prominent and influential men and women in our nation’s history, but I won’t.
However, I will say this: something needs to be done to end all of this senseless violence. Everyone shouldn’t have to live in fear of being harmed in some type of way. That is just not okay. So, I encourage you all to change that anger and hatred into love and acceptance, even though it may be incredibly difficult. The next time you want to say something hurtful to someone, judge them for their beliefs or even consider acting upon your hatred with violence, stop and take a second to see what it would be like to be the person on the other end receiving those hurtful words and harsh judgments or maybe even that fatal shot. Think about their families, their friends…anyone who may be affected by such a loss. Think about how you may be affected by it. I can guarantee you that it won’t be a good feeling. If you can do that and recognize that the change to a better world can start with you, then maybe that will be the key to making all the difference.
Be kind more and hate less, for hatred is the very thing that makes us blind to the beauty in everyone.
La Bella Vita 