Common Sense with Wayne
Why are you mad? Don’t say you aren’t mad. You are, even if it just a little bit. When was the last time you went an entire day without getting pissed of at something you heard on the radio, t.v. or internet? Can you remember a day where something didn’t get under your skin? Did you spouse leave socks on the floor next to the dirty clothes hamper? Were your lucky undies in the dirty clothes on the day of that really important interview?
Deep down, we have forgotten some basic things about life. One of the biggest is that we aren’t always right. That the world doesn’t turn around us. our society, maybe the global society, has shifted to tell us that we are special, we are great, and that we are always right and those who aren’t on our side are always wrong. I mean, we have divided ourselves into so many subcategories. Christian, atheist, republican, democrat, black, white, northern, southern. How many categories do you put yourself into? Do they really serve you any purpose at all? I mean, they are great if you want to hold up with only like minded people and hide from the boogie man of reality, but all this anger and division really gets us nowhere.
When you break it down it all really stems from a division within ourselves. Somewhere along the way we stopped looking at our individuality as a strength and started picking sides. Yes, I was born in the south, but what does clinging to southern as an identity really get me? I never got a “southern” discount at the store. I’m a Christian, and though I believe that will play a pretty significant role in the afterlife, there isn’t an express line at the store for Christians. All these different ways we want to define ourselves weaken the strength we have in so many ways. Now I am not saying that you should ignore those things, but drawing a line in the sand and defying anyone that disagrees with you is part of the reason we have so much discord in the world. We are individuals, flawed and beautiful. If you can love yourself, then you should be able to love others as well. Knowing you are flawed and still worthy is to accept that others can be both flawed and worthy as well. But when we don’t accept ourselves and don’t realize it, we turn that internal discord outwards and start using discrimination and separation as a vent for all the dissatisfaction we have within.
And when did it become ok to stop caring about others just because they think differently, or come from a different part of the world? What is supposed to make us stronger is that we come together with all our differences and build a world where all are welcome, all are valued, and all are cared for as they are. As the internet spreads and the world’s economies overlap more and more, we are becoming an entire globe that depends on success as a whole. More than anytime previous we need to work together. But change starts within. We will never accept the differences in others until we heel our own internal divide.
You hear all the screaming, cries for lives to matter. Black lives matter. Blue lives matter. All lives matter. It’s time to know that any life matters, but you have to start with your own. Forgive yourself. Love yourself. Practice self care. Heal thyself from within and send then send that healing out into the world.
