You’d have to live under a rock…on the dark side of the moon to be unaware of the latest events in the U.S. sparking a great debate across the country. Daily, we are inundated with story after story about tragedies, aimed at Blacks that are adversely affecting life in America. Due to how this great nation began, we may never move past the question of equality of the races, nor ability or lack thereof for us to live as one. What is dumbfounding is the violence that accompanies the disdain that some have for the other. Violence begets violence, and nothing gets resolved. Mahatma Ghandi said it quite eloquently, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”
The visceral reaction to church arson, unchecked police brutality, and the senseless death toll from recent violence against Blacks is sadness. We think of the progress made in America since the Civil Rights Movement and immediately feel sorrow for the state of race relations, now, a half a century later! That sadness is not and should not be just on the part of Blacks, for it affects us all. How many people have had to have a difficult conversation with their family about what they’ve seen on the news? How many questions of “why” can you deflect because you have no answer? “It happens and probably always will”, is little comfort when it affects you personally.
We have to make the transition from sadness to anger. With sadness we make commentary, we analyze, and we internalize. At most, we make changes within ourselves, and allow ourselves to be placated by the temporary satisfaction. With anger we act! Not violently or spewing words of hate or vengeance. Do more than “like” something on social media. We must do more than “share” empty rhetoric. We must all come together in unity, across racial and political lines, and show a genuine and undeniable display that we will not be scared into hate. Our words, our actions, our response to hate must be love. Love for our family, love for our community, and love for our country. In so doing, we will find the answer to those questions of our children and in our own hearts. Some hate because they can, and we love because we can!
In closing, think about this, where would this world be if everyone hated? Conversely, where would we be if everyone loved? Happiness, love, progress…is a choice. Choose wisely!
“We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools.”
~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
