Compassion and Acceptance, the Lie we Tell Ourselves

Morning Party People,

    I'm writing this through blogger instead of Facebook because I feel this is less of a jerk move. I mean you had to click on this to read it right? It's not like I'm putting a funny background that catches your eye just so I can slide my opinion into your brain much like a jerk who walks by singing the Brady Bunch theme song.

    I read a post about the death of that man by the cops who had their knee on his his neck. It was a very angry post. Why wouldn't it be? It's a horrible thing to have happened, it highlights so many things wrong with the world and the people in it. Then I see a post calling for compassion for everyone involved, including the police. That's when it hit me.

    We lie when we talk about compassion and acceptance. We strove for a world of acceptance but we were only talking about people we like, not the people we hate. We wanted a world of compassion but in the end we only cared about people we choose to care about, not the ones we didn't. We are liars. 

    As a society we looked at the horrible things the previous generations did and said," Not us, we'll never be our parents. We wont do to others what had been to us."

    The cause is different, the energy is still the same.

    I think it's great that the odds of a Mother of Father rejecting their kid for coming out is far less than it was 20 years ago. I think it's great that we show more mercy for people with disabilities or mental issues than we ever have before in my lifetime. I also don't think any of that matters when we treat someone who has a different view on immigration or healthcare like someone who was gay or disabled from 30 years ago. We didn't solve our tribal view, we just shifted our view on our tribe. We learned little on how to live with other tribes.

    For the record, I'm not where I want to be when it comes to these things. I am no saint, I have an easier time being around certain people than others and I am not the nicest person to everyone I meet. So please don't think I'm writing this as I look down from my ivory tower, I'm in the same mob as you and I'm writing this because I'm scared of what we'll do and who we will become afterwards.

    Till next time Party People, Keep on a Chooglin'