How We Treat One Another

Some days I feel like I'm writing for the heck of it.  It is almost like my words mean nothing and fall on deaf ears.

I see the hatred shared online from people who despise the hatred.  I see people getting angry acting as if I should only post stuff that they like and God forbid we don't see things the same way.

How we treat one another these days is mind boggling.  How we censor others is mind boggling.  How we get up on our pedestals and somehow demand others treat us as if we have all the answers is mind boggling.

We have replaced love with hate.  We have replaced our religious beliefs with intolerance.  We have denigrated those that wish to speak up by making them out to be horrible people we make fun of and call names.

What gives here? 

Where is our humanness?

Where is the love we proclaim we have?

We can't walk down both sides of the fence at one time.  We can't proclaim we love others and we want tolerance if we throw mud at those who disagree with us.

Aren't we better than that?  Don't we realize that the more we do this online that we're just being anything but human?

Seems like I have more rhetorical questions than there are answers.  Maybe the answers are there, but no one wishes to see it or hear it.

Heck, I don't have all the answers either, but I at least try to not make fun of others.  I try to not degrade and mock other people.

Our social media accounts show our true nature I think.  If someone wrote a book about us based upon what we share and like online, I've got a feeling that many people would be doing damage control.

It is sad.  It angers me to see the way we treat each other, especially online.  It angers me to see people talk about love and respect and tolerance, but then they go and do the same thing they despise.

It almost, no it does, remind me of the house I grew up in with the church-going-family who hated everyone that didn't think like them.  Maybe that's why this bothers me so much.  I have already lived this once in my life.

Little did I know, I would have to relive it again.  Where's the spaceship - I want to find a new planet that has tolerance and love, not hatred disguised as love.

May we all try a little harder to share a little less online and love a little more.  That's my hope!

Maybe we could work to be a little bit more conscious and aware.  After all, those things are not evident because of words, but because of the actions we portray.

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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. 
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Intolerance Is Not Love

I posted something yesterday on my twitter feed and within a short time, I lost well over 50 followers.  I lost count at some point because they were coming in so fast, I could not keep up.  It amazes me just how intolerant people are.

I realize gay marriage can be a volatile topic, but I try to be very respectful, warm, and compassionate in all that I write and share.  I don't try to force you to believe in what I do, but I don't shy away from putting out there in the world, that which impacts my life.  I try to stay open to all things, all thoughts, views, beliefs and actions.  Sometimes I may fall flat on my face doing this, but I try hard.

Many of the profiles that unfollowed were of "enlightened people" or at least that is what they claimed.  Some of the profiles claimed love and tolerance and being open.  Some gave the impression that they were the best people in the world.  It surprised me reading some of the profiles because either those are just words they wrote, or they don't understand what they wrote in the profile.

I step outside my comfort zone...

You will not see me back away from issues because they are too tough to deal with in our world.  I know that the only way I can learn and grow is if I step outside of my comfort zone.  Now, don't get me wrong in what I'm saying here.  There are plenty of things that I see which absolutely don't resonate with me and even if I step outside of my comfort zone, I don't bathe in them.

Welcoming thoughts and ideas and beliefs you don't agree with helps us understand one another and it helps us to grow.  It does not mean we have to agree or disagree with these things.  It does not mean we have to embrace them.  We can expose ourselves to them and then see how they apply to our own life.  It means that we can evaluate them and then decide what we want to do with these thoughts, ideas, beliefs, and opinions.  It can help us understand another individual from a new perspective.

It is not love...

To categorically reject something you see posted is shortsighted in my mind.  It is not what makes a thinker great.  It is not what makes a person truly human in my view.  It is not love.  It is intolerance.

I was saddened yesterday when this happened and I was grateful that a few encouraged me publicly and privately.  I try to be a very caring and respectful person, so when that many reject one little tweet I made, it really hurts.  I'm sensitive and I don't deal with rejection very well.  It was the absence of love and tolerance.

I want to challenge us to be more than we are.  I want to challenge us to include more people than we do.  I want to challenge us to listen more than we do and allow some other thought, idea, belief or opinion to look us straight in the eye.

As a civilization, I think we can be more than we are.  I think instead of intolerance being the new norm in life, we can rise to meet the possibilities of the future.  We can rise up with love.  If we walk hand in hand, we will be stronger, than if we cut the hands off of our fellow humans.

To those that unfollowed, I'm sorry that you decided to do this.  I hope you will reconsider and challenge yourself to greater heights.  I hope you will help me understand things that I don't understand or know at this moment.

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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.  

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Group Think Says Bye Now

I feel right now like the moment you get off the plane and they say, "bye now".  After all, that seems to be what is happening at this time.  I went on a group event and I had people follow me on here.  Of course, then I went and disagreed with the prophet of this group and boy did I hear about it. 

The message these "enlightened" individuals sent to me was, don't you dare disagree with our prophet.  For if you do, you will be exiled.  We will drop you like yesterday's news and we will have nothing to do with you.

Keep in mind, I didn't get mean or nasty or anything like that.  I simply voiced my view of what was said in a very respectful manner.  Many thought I was the problem and that I was so wrong I didn't know anything. The group think was strong.

There was no taking it in stride and listening.  There was no tolerance.  There was no openness to what I said.  It was either their way or the highway.

It reminds me too much of a closed minded intolerant church I grew up in and a father that it was either his way or the highway.  I guess, there are these people in life, but what bugs me the most is how "enlightened" they portray themselves to be while being so intolerant. 

Its mighty dangerous when we practice group think and force people to believe our enlightened views or be banned to damnation.  In all honesty, it really is not anything that is enlightened, but of course you can't begin to tell these people that they may be a little misguided.

Regardless, all I can say back to them for now is bye now.  If they want to practice group think, then I guess that's their moment of enlightenment.  Guess what though?  I'll be staying as far away from them as I can because I have no desire to be part of group think that is this closed minded.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 1/27/16 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.  

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Triggered By Intolerant People

Not long ago I encountered a situation that brought me trembling in my shoes.  Between the anger that surfaced, no lets make that the rage that surfaced and the humiliation I felt, life became very dull, dismal, and almost to the point I didn't care if I kept going. I was triggered by intolerant people.

These intolerant people who did what they did to me will remain nameless for now, unless it happens again or they give me some reason to no longer be silent.  The pain this caused me was so deep and severe, I wasn't sure if I could make it through it.  It lasted for what seemed like forever, all the time eating away at me like cancer.

The intolerance was pathetic and hopeless and despicable.  I realize it is their issue and they aren't enlightened enough to understand just how much their words hurt me.  However, I was hurt so deeply.  I can even sense the anger and pain in these words as I have tried to let go.  It isn't easy for me to tolerate their intolerance.

We all say things at times that we think no one hears and you might be surprised as to what actually gets relayed or shared to another person.  Even if no one physically hears the words, the energy that it puts into the universe hurts just the same.  In fact, it hurts the entire world.  Our words can do great damage.

From Intolerance To Acceptance

We stopped at a Christian thrift store the other day. While inside the store, I heard a very loud and boisterous man talking about his view of God and religion. It is a free country and he is perfectly allowed to do this. However, he was very rude in making sure everyone in the store heard what he had to say. It was like forced religious babble.

As he continued speaking loudly, he began to talk about a group of people that to him were evil and a threat to our way of life. The hatred, intolerance, and bigotry spewing forth from his mouth infuriated and disgusted me. The things he was saying were so vile and so full of hate that I could barely stomach any of the words he was speaking.

I finally had to leave because I could not take one more minute of what he was saying. I felt sad for the group of people he was degrading. I felt even more sad for this guy's intolerance. I am sure this man most likely never met the ones he was degrading.

He was hating this group of people out of not truly knowing them. His hatred seemed to arise from his fears. To be honest, I'm not sure where in "HIS" Bible, it shows that Jesus hated others and would talk this way. Yet, the man that purported to love Jesus and follow him must have missed the lesson Jesus taught where he said "Love One Another."

My ears had heard enough and to keep myself from reacting in a way that I would have regretted, I left the store. It took me awhile to let go of the anger I had at hearing these things. Every button from my past had been pushed.

It was not until we walked into another thrift store that the lady said, "welcome to our store," with a smile on her face, that I felt love and compassion for others shine through. This was not another Christian thrift store but one that valued all people as humans. In that moment, her smile of love and compassion connected with my heart. That one simple act meant the world to me in that moment. It was at that moment that I was able to let this go and change my thoughts from anger to acceptance of this intolerant man.



(Above Picture taken at Dandelion Communitea Cafe, Orlando, FL - (c) 09/17/10) Listening to the band, Dreamcatcher, perform on 9/17/10


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