Are You Part Of The Hate

As long as I see the stuff I see in a day, I'm going to keep writing about this topic.  These days no matter how much you try to avoid it, the stuff gets shoved in your face one way or another. 

There is just so much hate that fills our online world these days that it makes me shudder every time I see it.  I wonder how humans can be this way with one another.

Aren't we in this world together, trying to make it in our lives and advance in the best way we know how?  It just seems like everything I see and hear these days, that most humans hate one another.  It seems like if you don't believe the way they do in all aspects of life, that you are somehow less than another.

Of course, it is easy to point the fingers and claim everyone else does this.  Yet, if that were the case, it would not be plastered over every bit of social media and the news like it is.  The question than leads to, are you part of the hate?

If you pass on....

You can't go and pass on the hate-filled social media posts and not be part of it.  You can't call those who you disagree with all kinds of names, even in passing, and not be part of the hate.  You can't pass the graphics and memes along all day that degrade others and not be part of the hate.  If you're just trying to point out the errors of another person's ways, unless you're doing it with the same compassion you would want for yourself, you're part of the hate.

What you believe is what you believe.  Most of what we believe is not necessarily fact, but in the world of those who believe it - it is.  Is that all that matters though in hating other people.  Are our beliefs the only thing that sustains us and unites us?  Surely there is more than what we think we believe that matters.

There is no balance in  this world these days and that is sad.  Everyone is divided with one another and the hate shows up in full force.  I see it from those who profess love every day as if they have the answers.  I see it in those that are desperate to bring back some balance.  I see it in those that are friends who feel I must think like they do or I'm not human.

Need to get past this muck...

We need to get past this muck we are in because it is destroying the world we know.  We need each other.  We need love in this world, not hate.  We need to learn to work together, not just stand opposed without much thought.

I wonder if part of the issue is that we are so unconscious in our day that we belly up to the news bar and consume everything fed to us.  Then, in unconscious behavior, we turn to our friends and social media to spew and regurgitate all that we've heard.  We don't stop for a moment though and think if this is truly the best thing we can do with our time or the best way we can show love and respect to others.

Let's strive to not be part of the hate.  Let's discuss ideas but do so in a civilized way with respect for one another.  You don't have to wallow down in the mud hole with others if they choose to go to the moments of hate.  You can rise above and wait for them to crawl out of the mud hole, then offer them a hose to rinse themselves off.

I plead and I beg with everyone that reads this - let's stop being part of the hate online!  We've got that much power in us to change what we do.  What others do is beyond our control, but what we do is something we can impact. What we do will impact the world either in a positive or a negative way!

If you wouldn't say these things face-to-face to the love of your life or your best friend or your young child, then maybe it would be best to rethink whether you should say them online. 

---

Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

---

Fear Is Running Our World

We've had far too many events happen lately that just make me cringe.  From the shooting in Orlando to the one in Louisiana and Minnesota along with the Arab that was detained, fear is running our world. There is no other way to state it.  There is a good chance that by the time this is posted, what I wrote will be out of date. 

Gun sales are at an all time high and if you think fear does not play a role in that, then you may want to take a second look.  People are so afraid of other people, they feel that guns are the only way they feel safe.  They are afraid.  Fear is running their lives. You can deny it all you want, but if you take a moment to look at it, you'll see it.  I'm not saying anything about guns, other than fear drives guns.  Why else would the gun sales skyrocket?

To see someone that was dressed in Arab clothing and become suspicious of the person and report them is beyond comprehension in my mind.  We fear what we do not know.  We fear these people because we're taught to fear them every day.  Through the media and especially the politicians, we know nothing else than the fear we should feel at the utterance of their name or image we see.

We are so afraid of one thing or another.  I remember living in a small town and I was meeting a friend of mine at a youth baseball practice session in the local ballpark.  I was sitting on the bleachers minding my own business and the parents demanded to know who I was and why I was there.  It was not for information purposes, but because they didn't know who I was.  They were afraid.  Yet, the same people would be fine worshiping alongside a child molester in their church.

Associate with our own kind...

When we put up walls and fences and only associate with our own kind, we're not helping to make the world a better place.  When we fear everyone around us that doesn't act like us or think like us, we are not making the world a better place.  When we fear everything but what we believe and we listen to the news pundits and politicians as if they speak our truth, we are not helping to make the world a better place.

When we degrade others and put our beliefs and religions as the forefront of all knowledge and truth, we are degrading all of humanity.  We are making each one of us out to be less than we are because we cannot see others with a pure essence or someone just like us.

When all others are wrong....

When we proclaim we have the right way and all others are wrong, it is then that fear is guiding our heart.  There is no love in that statement.  When we do this, we automatically assemble all those that are teetering on the brink of collapse to heed our call to hate one another.  Through that hatred, we see mass shootings such as Orlando and others.

We cannot proclaim to be better than those we despise if we do the same things that we hold up as being horrible.  We cannot proclaim to be better if we return hate with hate, all the time acting as if we have love in our hearts.  We are all guilty to some degree and many of us are guilty to a much greater degree.

We no longer respect and talk with one another as neighbors.  We no longer see others in the eyes of love because fear is running our world.  We engage in rhetoric that adds to the problem, but solves nothing.  We engage in rhetoric that brings us in unison with the masses, but does nothing to help make the world better.  We engage in beliefs that pit one person against another, rather than opening our arms and showing love to one another.

Fear is so alive...

It is time we begin to face up with how much fear is running our world.  Fear is so alive and this world is running scared.  Yes, I know there are dangers.  I have seen this happen too close to me, but we cannot do the same thing that is being done to us, because if we do, we will only lose the most precious part of our existence.

We are all one.  We were all created as humans traveling on this planet through the journey of life.  We can either choose to continue and keep our heads buried in the sand, or we can rise above and learn to love, not hate.  We can be more than we are, if we want to, but we must stop letting the rhetoric of the day be our source of strength and sustenance to our soul.

The ego keeps score.  The ego dictates how great it is and how right it is.  The ego shows you how wrong everyone is and how much they should be silenced.  The ego has nothing to do with love.  It has nothing to do with love in our heart.

It is up to each one of us, what we do and how we impact the world.  Each one of us can continue on the same path we are, or we can make a difference.  It isn't the other people who we need to worry about in life.  It is what is in our heart that will make the difference.  For when our hearts unite as one, hate will have no home.  Ignorance will not be fed.  Rhetoric of the day will sound like a noisy cymbal out of tune.

It is up to each one of us, what we choose to do with our day.  We will either become part of the solution or we will continue to add to the hate that is alive through the fear that is running our world.

---

Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

---