So many times I have read things along the lines of things must be completely destroyed before they can get better. I understand that. I mean if you are going to build a house on a lot that has the remnants of a long destroyed home on it, you have to completely clear the grounds before you can begin. I get it.
What I don't get is how humans can be so downright ugly to one another. Everywhere you turn there is a blame game going on. It's always someone's fault for this or that. Yet people are refusing to take responsibility for their own actions. It's always someone else's fault or responsibility.
This morning I noticed a post on Nextdoor. The kind I pay attention to, someone had their car broken into. the double ah-ha moment for me, is that this is the second time in a year. Last time they stole the truck, this time they just rummaged through her car and stole her vehicle documentation - so the damage there is identity theft. That and the feeling for violation.
About half of the comments were blaming her. All those should have and could have and why didn't you... it was enough to make my head absolutely explode! I mean fireworks central!! Truth of the matter, the victim was further victimized by the keyboard warriors.
I don't know if you have ever been stolen from. If you have ever felt violated in such a way, but I have. It was super minor - although I did call the police and I did press charges. Yes it feels ugly to press charges against an 8 year old child. But I do not regret it one bit. She broke into my home, she stole things out of my home and when confronted by the police stated she felt it was okay, because she wanted what had been in my home. Her parents saw nothing wrong with it either.
So nope, no regrets. Here is why, because until she was caught I was left with a haunting feeling that anyone could simply enter my home and take what they wanted. That I was unsafe with two small children, my son was only a few months old at the time, and my ex-husband deployed most of the time. It leaves you feeling helpless and unsure of anything around you. It is a feeling of complete violation.
Once she was caught and had zero remorse and the parents didn't even feel it was worthy of punishment or an apology, that amplified those feelings to levels I can't explain. She was a child from our neighborhood, which is why her presence in our stairwell did not cause me any concern. She was not a child that played with my then six year old daughter, so she had never been in our home. She just felt it was her right to be able to go into my home and remove the items that she wanted.
I moved a short while later, I am sure the little girl received nothing much in the way of discipline, I am equally sure the father (the military member responsible for the actions of his family) did.
The woman this morning was victimized not only by the person that violated her private space, but by her neighbors, by the community she sought to warn to exercise additional caution.
This is just the latest example of ugly.
I'm tired of ugly. I'm tired of criminal actions, mandates, illegal rules. I'm tired of freedoms and rights being stripped away. When I hear what is happening in other countries, I am sick. Absolutely sick to my stomach at the actions happening on a global scale.
There is lying, cheating, abuse (both mental and physical), the double standards are extreme. My heart breaks for those that deal with it on a daily basis. The longer I have stepped back from the public, the more evident and glaring it becomes.
People are becoming so aggressive. Have you observed traffic lately? The aggression being acted out while driving a vehicle is unreal. Terrifying actually. And half the time they are using their phone as they are driving aggressively - eyes not even on the road.
The air seems filled with this sense of I deserve this and I deserve that. Give me my way or else. Is this the result of years of everyone is a winner, everyone gets a trophy and prize? Did society build this when they decided our children no longer needed to learn that not everyone is the best at everything?
I'm just speculating, I absolutely do not have any answers. I am asking each of us to truly step back and examine what is occurring all around us.
I mean think about it, it's "my body, my choice" when referring to abortion (ironic when you think about it, as it involves another life) but not when referring to a desire to have or not have an unproven vaccination. It's also I can put you down for anything I want if you don't have the same ideology, orientation, desires, fill in the blank that I have - but don't you dare say anything about me because that is a hate crime.
The division, the anger, the inability to reason through and realize that we are all pawns on a giant board and we control the ability to stop being used as such if we would just step back and take a deep breath. If we would simply remove ourselves from the game board. And look at what is truly going on.
We have reached a point in society that we are frightened children lashing out at everyone around us, simply because we are being led to do so. When is this all going to reach it's crescendo? When are families going to become whole again and realize that just because someone doesn't agree with you, they aren't necessarily wrong. They might just have other information, that might be worth exploring? When do we as a society become whole again?
Last night at dinner out with friends, conversations inadvertently swung to politics in a twisted manner. I was asked if I frequented a stop that sells quality spices here in town. I do not. My reason is personal, Hubs accidentally let the reason slip. Our friend's wife instantly took offense.
It bothered me, because my reason is because of their extreme political views and the method presented. I don't care about a companies views per say. I don't care what party they endorse or support. Where my feathers get ruffled and I will quit being your patron is where you attempt to force your views on me, where you bombard me with propaganda and ugliness in email or when I come to your shop I am basically shunned and criticized for not wishing to engage in conversations around that topic. I will gladly support your company if you live and let live. I will not support if you push your agenda on me, not that you are willing to discuss your beliefs (I will gladly discuss), but flat out rude behavior against someone that may or may not believe as you do - I can't do that.
I attempted to explain this thought process. Acknowledging that it was a personal feeling and that I could not support someone that used their business as a bully pulpit. I didn't condemn her for shopping there, I didn't fuss at the comment that I should have ignored it. I did find it humorous, as that is usually the stance I encounter when I can't support those tactics. Yet it is perfectly okay for people to completely malign a store like Hobby Lobby, because of the stance of their CEO. I have never received threatening emails from their CEO that I needed to believe their way or I was not welcome in their store - that they did not need my business. Nor have I ever encountered anything that would lead me to feel they were pushing his beliefs onto me. And no I am not endorsing his views, I frankly haven't dug deeply enough into them as they do not affect me personally.
I am also grown up enough to decide when something doesn't sit right with me.
That seems to be the world that we are living in. We are forced to censor everything we say, think, feel or do through a lens of who will this offend. The victims are the ones that are maligned and shunned, the aggressor could not possibly be responsible for their actions. It's a march in step or get the hell out of the way society.
It's making me sick.
My heart is hurting.
I have strong views on a lot of things. Unless you know me extremely well, you will not know those views. I always try to look at the world through the lens of good. Sometimes I bite my tongue, sometimes I don't. I am getting more and more to the place inside me that I have to speak up. That being neutral and playing middle ground is serving no one.
Is that where we are coming to as a society? Is there no longer middle ground? Have we stopped treating others the way we want to be treated? Has right and wrong or black and white become a permanent shade of gray? Has accountability and personal responsibility gone the way of the dinosaurs?
As you can tell, my head and heart are in a definite quandary today. Especially as I long for the days of old, where locking or not locking your door did not lead to you being to blame for a break in. Where you immediately rushed to the aid of another human. Where you weren't looked at crazy for offering to cook a meal, watch children or make a donation of any kind towards helping people through life.
Guess what... none of us are getting out of this alive. So know that if you need my prayers, they are there wrapped firmly around you. If I can do something to make your life easier, I have got your back! If all you need is someone to listen and give you grace and ease, I'm your girl! I will always be there for anyone in need of anything. This life is our lesson, our proving ground. It is up to us how we accomplish that task.
Shut off the television, walk away from social media, go out into the sunshine and be the sponge that absorbs all of the goodness around you so that you can easily squeeze some of it out on a hurting soul. And for pities sake... lets stop this world from being so darn judgmental and hate-filled.
Surround yourself and others with peace, love and grace!
Good one! 381+
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