I don’t usually come out with my opinion, but after the Police Shootings and “Black Lives Matter” movement, I realized I had something to say. There’s been a lot of fear as differences erupt in violence and hatred. I think, though, that most of us just want to continue living peacefully and don’t always understand who we are fighting when we let ourselves get into conflicts like this.
I grew up in Maycomb, Alabama. Of course there was still racism and hatred there, but people have come a long way. Even some of the small, one-time KKK towns around here have welcomed their first black families. We usually live together pretty well unless someone goes around trying to stir up trouble. What I hate is the division that recent events have started to create between people. Now, I understand that neither of can ever quite live another person’s life, but I think we focus too much on what’s different between us then what’s the same. I think that if we took a little more time to at least try to stand in each other’s shoes every once in awhile we would realize that one person really isn’t that different from another. I think a lot of the political problems we can’t seem to get over are do simply to the fact that we don’t listen to each other, and we don’t consider ideas different from our own. Those who don’t agree with us suddenly become our enemy instead of just folks with different ideas. You can try to categorize people, but there’s really just one kind of folks. Folks.
I’ve had my own experiences as a kid about being scared of what was different, but I realized that most of that fear was just made up and changes once we get the opportunity to stand in another person’s place. So, I’m not going to say “black lives matter” or “blue lives matter” right now, but you can bet that I’m mostly going to just shut up and listen to the people around me because that’s where I think it all starts.
(I like this video because it gives a different perspective on the issue and how important it is or isn't)
