I have been mostly quiet for the past 2 weeks or so, an occasional hit and run post when it was too much to resist. While doing so it has driven me crazy, it is the wise thing to do at this point; the seeming fruitlessness of it all kept me up at night.
My wife says my heart is too damned big sometimes.
However, there is a simply matter of right and wrong, despite whatever political, religious, philosophical or whatever views you possess, and this fact...not fake news, not motivated by anything but love for all humankind, has caused me to use my fingers, even for a brief moment in time.
I read comments from folks based on what is going on in the world, and to be my normal "forward" self, it is just fucking nasty. Evil, mean spirited, unformed, bigoted.
The ol' "My way or the highway" method, no matter who else it hurts, is the rule of the day.
My wife uses the same technique when it comes to me doing the laundry.
Shrink a couple of bras and shirts, and a guy can't touch the ERA...sigh.
The biggest thing though I've noticed is how quick folks jump on someone when they have no idea what is is like to walk in that person's shoes. To be able to experience what someone that isn't you goes through every day; .to NOT have the advantage you may have that allows you to avoid it.
I don't know what it is like to be a gay man. No clue on because you have a particularly religious belief you must be a terrorist. Because you have a p***y you are only to be conquered, are stupid or (supposedly) the weaker sex (despite the fact that most women outlive men by about 10 years on average), so you should be listened to (and paid) less. Because of the color of your skin you are a rapist, absentee father, guilty, and bad the day you were born...
....despite the fact that most of the crimes these folks are accused of are committed by the accusers.
Right and wrong are easily twisted to fit the shoes that folks refuse to wear instead of the facts and evidence laid bear for them to see.
I have a dear, dear, dear friend who I am happy to have in my life. While we disagree on our worldview, her view of the world is something I wish were true. As far as she is concerned, I am just Greg, my son with Autism deserves help that isn't cost prohibitive, this is still the land of the free....of opportunity, where an ideal of being judged on your character is more important than what each lie every generation is taught over and over again takes precedence.
Where being kind to each other and taking care of those who are not blessed enough isn't perceived as weakness or laziness on those folk's part.
My friend's heart is SO big. It is almost a marvel to experience, because I wish that all of us (or at least the majority of us) could match its size. Oh Lord, what a wonderful country and world it would be.
A long time friend of mine sent a response to a discussion I started that so disheartened me, so cut me to the soul, it caused me to back away from trying to get folks to see that we are letting a small minority destroy ourselves, as well as continue to hate and distrust one another.
I know my words will continue to fall on deaf ears.
That is a pity.
My silence will probably continue (well, mostly silent). I know I can't change the world (or the 120+ folks who see these ramblings on facebook).
But I won't give up.
I am a parent of a child that, as I write this, broke the 67th set of headphones in the last 3 years, gouged his brother so badly that his finger bled, and who is now hitting his wall uncontrollably and refusing to go to sleep.
All the while as his mother, who just pulled in from work, simply wants to eat and go to sleep.
These are my shoes.
I am confident that most are afraid to find out what is like to slip them on.
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