I use social media primarily as a place to do business and see pictures of places and people. I do not use it as a primary source of education or enlightenment. I would love to say that I always ignore the political posts and don’t comment but sometimes I see something that I just can’t resist commenting on.
What happened to civil discourse, true debate, pros and cons, the Ben Franklin Close? I have been called a Libtard, a left wing idiot and a radical! All by adults!! What in the hell is happening?
I read a post that really resonated with me and reaffirmed what I have been saying for years. Probably because this post was written by a nurse and in our education we are taught to look at the whole being not just the illness. She talked about systems and that we must look at the entire system before choosing to “fix” an individual part of it.
I feel overwhelmed when I think about our system as a people, living in one world. One world that is affected by each of us in one way or another. To see ourselves as separate from this system is egocentric and destructive.
We MUST want what is best for EVERYONE!! It hurts my heart to think that some people can’t see this. There are some who feel that our universe, world, existence, is energy. Energy that we as a human population create and that energy affects us. If this is true, everyone is hurting. The negative energy far outweighs the positive. We know that negative thoughts, stress, hormones our bodies produce when exposed to stress, will affect our health. Maybe that is why the US is one of the sickest places on earth.
Is it so bad to hope for happiness for everyone? That everyone be able to go to the doctor, afford to feed their children, be able to get a good education. Is it too much to ask to have a safe place to express your opinion without being called a name! Is it unreasonable to walk the streets with a sign that requests these things and not fear for your own life?
Shouldn’t we live in a world where it is NOT OK to call someone a derogatory name!! Isn’t it reasonable to expect that we not refer to women as nasty, inferior, or stupid. Must I remind everyone that your mother is a woman and that without us there would be no world!! Isn’t it reasonable that as a woman I can do what I want with my own body and that nobody should have power over it.
Isn’t reasonable to expect everyone to be able to empathize with others. Our ability to have a civilized society depends on this.
I wish that each of you could experience a day with me. Seeing a vulnerable population with inadequate resources. Contrary to popular belief this is not their fault, but a systems failure, which brings me to the origin of this post!! We are failing. Time is running out. We are descending down to a place I thought I would never see! We can’t fix a cog in a broken wheel and expect the wheel to turn. It won’t!!
Unapologetically Pretty 
Good gosh! Great stuff here.
To me, one of the biggest issues is that of “rugged individualism” so embedded within the psyche of the people in the US. We’ve been so indoctrinated with this falsehood (for that’s exactly what it is) that some of us believe we’ve never had help from anyone else — we did it, made it all on our own. “No one helped me,” we cry, “so no one should help you, either.” But that’s a lie. A deeply rooted lie that destroys any notion of “community” or “collective awareness.”
Like you said, we see ourselves as individual cogs of a gear but some of us don’t comprehend that we’re all part of the same gear! That it takes all of us to make it work. No one — absolutely no one — “made it on [their] own.” As you pointed out, we’ve all had mothers — we wouldn’t be living if not for our mothers birthing us! We didn’t build our homes or pave our streets or make our clothes or grow our food or on and on and on. It took other people doing their part to help us do those things. I mean, just the thought of typing in a comments section of a website on the Internet that neither of us created from scratch just shows us how some of us just don’t get it.
What happened to the Golden Rule — “You should treat people in the same way that you want people to treat you.” Or the “Platinum Rule” (as it’s sometimes called) — “Think of others as *better than* [ourselves].” Oh my! What a wonderful world it would be if we just did those things! If I’m looking out for you, and you’re looking out for me, then both of get our needs met!
Anyway, I could go on and on. Thank you for such an inspirational post. Have a great day and be safe out there.
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Our world would be so much better if there were more people like you, Lisa!
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