Times like these that we've recently experienced are scary. It seems like not a day goes by without hearing of a new incident of violence in some corner of our world. Some days, that corner of the world is right in our own neighborhood, so to speak. And almost every time, the initial shock and devastation gives way to waves of antagonistic bluster and finger-pointing. Guns, religion, skin color, politics, nationality, gender, economics, privilege, racism--all are batted about in a grotesque ping-pong game of endless blame and recrimination. Except in this game, there are no winners, only an increasingly divided society, where fear, misunderstanding, and hate are perpetuated. Differences are accentuated and divides are widened. It occurs to me that for a nation that claims to pride itself on celebrating diversity, individuality, and chutzpah, our society more often fears and loathes those qualities and anyone who exemplifies them...anyone who represents something different than some homogenized vision we have of ourselves. We have to moved past this mentality that is neither kind nor constructive.
During these trying times, some people have the audacity to talk about peace and love. (I like to think that I fall into this group.)
Give peace a chance.
Love is all we need.
We are One. We are Love.
Seems harmless enough, right? Though, somehow, even peace-mongers and love-enthusiasts come under attack in the blame game, with accusation hurled at them like You're living in a fairy tale land if you think that matters! or Peace and love are not how the real world works! These are actual statements people have made to me when I've spoken or written about peace and love being the answer to what ails humanity. It saddens me that there are folks who are so accepting of and drowning in negativity that they no longer see that love does conquer all, if we let it. But in that disappointment, there is still hope that our overall societal approach to problem solving can change for the better.
I was once someone more prone to bluster. I grew up exposed to the Rambo-esque action movies of the 80's and 90's where the "heroes" used tough talk--and often brute shows of force--to argue their points and save the day. Real life rarely resembles the movies. Such "cowboy diplomacy" does not save the day. If anything, it makes hostilities more intense and widens the rift between those with opposing view points. Such rifts are so difficult to mend. I've seen this both in my own life and in watching the events of our world. While I hope that I have and continue to learn to approach problems in my life with a gentler touch, I don't see the world at large learning that lesson. Violence keeps happening. Perpetrators do so expecting to affect some major paradigm shift--but it isn't working. Leaders' responses (usually involving "thoughts and prayers") are always the same, but the violence that plagues us goes unchanged. Perhaps worsening. What's that adage about doing the same things over and over again and expecting a different result?
There was this great scene in the most recent season of Doctor Who where the title character talked about exactly this. He pleaded that the two sides in their predicament sit and genuinely listen to each other. Imagine if we humans found a way to truly do that... I think we'd see that we have similar hopes, fears, joys, struggles, and dreams. I think we'd learn about each other and begin to understand that we're so similar. Realizing that would make that cowboy diplomacy, that us-against-them mentality virtually obsolete. If we'd all wake-up from the meaningless drivel that divides us, we'd realize that we can decide how the world works. We are all us. We are all them. We are ONE. And we'd find that we want nothing for ourselves but peace and love.
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