The Only Way

I had pretty visceral reaction to the tragic and violent events in Charlottesville, VA this past weekend.  I couldn’t stop pacing around our apartment and vocalizing how absolutely disgusted, angry, and sad I felt.

To top it off and unsurprisingly, our very president didn’t specifically condemn these ugly people/groups until two days later.  Two days.  You’re the leader of this country.  Someone died as a result of this hate. Two days…disgusting.

I don’t want the focus of this post to be about how angry I am and how you should be too.  Instead, I want to share the thought that comes to mind after something like this happens.  Something so hateful.  And as we all logically know, hate doesn’t absolve hate.  Only love and kindness can do that.  And personally, I believe when we collectively put out positive energy via our thoughts and actions, that energy creates a movement that inspires change.  Or so I hope.

When I feel that as an individual I’m not able to impact positive change in the face of these monsters who want to take away our sense of peace and love, here’s what I think to myself over and over again…

There is far more love, trust, and kindness in the world than there is hate and malice.  And the majority of mankind lives according to the rules of love, trust, and kindness.  Most of the time we don’t think twice about this because it’s a given.  The opposite is not.

Take the idea of trust.  Think of how blindly we trust each other.  We trust that the people who built our cars, our homes, etc. did so with extra care.  We trust the farmers that grow our food.  We trust the strangers we interact with on a daily basis.  I know I do.  I trust them to do the right thing…always.

Love and kindness, in the simplest terms, should be our religion as citizens of Earth.

Sadly, I know after this weekend many people will stop believing in the power of love, trust, and kindness.  But that’s exactly what we can’t let happen.  We can’t let the ugly people win.  We need to stand up for these values each and every day, especially in the way we interact with each other.  We need to speak up when we see racism and discrimination happening in front of our very eyes.  We need to teach our children the importance of treating people with love and kindness.  We need to talk to them about why the opposite is just plain wrong.  We need to live our lives in such a way that our actions drown out any nasty rhetoric regardless of where it’s coming from.

It’s the only way.