Disintegrating Society

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So are we tired of all of the division yet? I know I am! It’s gotten to a point of caricature: That person, over there, the one with the 2 small children, they don’t believe exactly what I believe. I bet they hate me because of who I am. I know I hate them, but that’s because they are pure evil and I am righteous. I know because other people have told me. And they can’t be wrong… so I can’t be wrong. No. I won’t hear any criticism. Compromise? NEVER! How can I compromise with pure evil? I won’t! I must destroy them before they destroy me. It’s the only way. That’s what other people, people who believe the same things I do, have told me. Why would they lie? Yeah, I was taught the golden rule, but these people are different from me and therefore evil, that’s what I’ve been told. So the golden rule doesn’t count, right? Right? I don’t want to think about it anymore. I just want everything to be clear, like it use to be. And people have told me it can be clear again, we can go back to the way it was, if only I hate all the different people just a little bit more. So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to fill myself up with more and more hate because that’s the only way I can make my life happy and free again... At least that’s what I’ve been told and how can that be wrong?

Doesn’t that all sound ridiculous? But it isn’t. This is the world we are increasingly living in. A very strange and illogical world. A world where people continually scream about having their own freedoms protected from governmental intrusion while also screaming about how the government isn’t doing enough to take away freedoms from others. A world that hates compromise and demands that everything be done only one way. A world that will cut off its own nose to spite its face. A world that fills itself up with hatred under the pretence that that will be the only way to achieve happiness. A world with no responsibility and no accountability. A world where vigilantes are given free reign to terrorise society in ways that the government isn’t allowed. A world of shoddy quick fixes because we can no longer think of complex long-term solutions. A world disintegrating before our eyes.

I don’t want this to be our future. I don’t want to have to live in fear of other people. I don’t want people, who have different beliefs than me, deciding that they have been given divine authority and/or governmental approval to economically, physically, emotionally, or violently torture me. The fact is we are all basically the same. We all generally want the same things. We may not all have the same beliefs but (surprise surprise) people can actually live together peacefully with differing beliefs as long as those beliefs do not include harming others. I think most people want these things. What we need to do is start demanding better from our leaders, and not just politicians, but media personalities and business leaders, anyone who has influence. We need people that don’t throw temper tantrums or name call when they don’t get their way. People that don’t preach hate. People that don’t blatantly lie and refuse to accept reality. We need responsible adults that are willing to do the hard work. Willing to compromise. Willing to set an example. Let’s not make this a race to the bottom. Let’s not live sad, hopeless, fearful lives. Instead let us demand and expect better from everyone, including ourselves. And the next time you feel yourself filling up with hate for somebody that has different beliefs than you, remember that they are in fact not pure evil and you really don’t have to hate them. Remember you can disagree without hate. And maybe just maybe, if more of us remember this, the world will begin to resemble that happy, free place we all so desperately desire.