Off/On Topic

No running talk today.  Please bear with me while I go off (but, oh so on) topic.

 

Our country (the world, for that matter) seems to be in the middle of a whole array of social crises (racial profiling, domestic violence, marriage inequality, domestic violence, just to name a few).  What I keep hearing over and over on both sides of the conversations is the idea of "them" and "us" and "they" and "we."

 

But, here is the thing we are missing.  Here is the thing that we must grasp.  Here is the thing that without, we have no hope of leaving this place any better than we found it.  Here is THE thing:

 

THEY ARE US.  WE ARE THEM.

 

We are so focused on our perceived differences, we are missing the most important fact of it all: we are all the same.  We were created as ONE MANKIND.  And, sure, that one mankind comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes and colors and religions and sexual preferences.  But those variations don't compare to, compete with, or diminish our overall sameness.  No matter what color, sex, nationality.  No matter if we are gay, straight, Christian, or Muslim.  We are first and foremost, human beings.  We have all of the same hopes, dreams, and fears.  If we stopped for one second to see the sameness in us all, the differences might not look so big.

 

When one of us is hurting, instead of judging or feeling judged, what if we asked what we could do to help?  What if we decided to truly listen to each other instead of speaking over one another until there is nothing but screaming and noise?  What if we realized that in taking care of each other, we also take care of and better ourselves?  What if we accepted that when one of us is raised up, we are all raised up?  When one of us hurts, all of us are lessened. 

 

They are us and we are them.