Choose Love and Acceptance over Hate and Intolerance

It seems like you can't turn on the news these days without hearing stories of shootings, murders, terrorist attacks and hate crimes.  Everywhere you look, it seems like hate, anger and intolerance are winning while love, forgiveness and acceptance are nowhere to be seen.  Terrorist attacks are becoming an alarmingly common occurrence in Europe, while shootings and murders are approaching all-time highs in many large cities in the U.S.

What's behind all of this death and destruction?  There's no simple answer.  However, there are many things we can point to:

• Poisonous vitriol from our politicians - on both sides of the aisle - stoke the hatred of those with whom we do not agree.  The result?  People dislike and distrust people who don't march in lockstep with their own beliefs, which can cause a man to go on a shooting spree at a charity softball practice trying to kill people he disagrees with politically.
• Social media gives the ugliest views in our society an easy way to spread easily.  People hide behind anonymity and say things to people that they'd never say face-to-face.  People discard opposing viewpoints and begin to live in an echo chamber that reinforces that they are right and others are wrong.
• Racism, sexism, classism and many other isms allow people to stereotype others into one bucket and then casually make generalizations that dehumanize those individuals. All minorities aren't uneducated and violent.  All poor people aren't lazy. All homosexuals aren't promiscuous, bad people.  All addicts aren't losers who just have no self control. 

Each and every one of us is on our own journey.  Each and every one of us is battling demons that no one else may know about.  We're all trying to do our best to make our way in this world.  Some people have a battle that is readily apparent, be it a handicap or a health issue that is obvious.  But many more of us are fighting battles that others may know nothing about because those battles are fought behind closed doors.  People battling depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, addiction.  They may seem okay to you, but you have no idea how hard it is for them just to get out of bed in the morning and make it through the day without relapsing.  People going through marital difficulties who are watching everything they ever dreamed of being torn asunder. The single parent who didn't necessarily plan to be a single parent but is doing their best to raise their child while bearing all of the load of parenting.  The person who is dealing with the death of a loved one.  You have no idea what they are going through in the mornings or evenings, when they're not at work or school.

I have no grand solutions to solve the world's problems.  But here's an idea: let's all try to choose love and acceptance over hate and intolerance.  Let's love, care for and accept people in spite of their religion or marital status or sexual orientation or addiction or handicap or income level.  Let's look for common ground instead of focusing on our differences.  We're all in this world together and we're all trying to make our way through it as best as we can.  We all have enough problems to have to add worrying about people hating us or seeking to harm us because of our background, religion or personal struggles.

There's a quote I saw several years ago that has always stuck with me:

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

If all of us try to do that, think about the impact it could have on our schools, our places of business, our communities, our nation, our world.  I realize this sounds like some sort of utopian, hippy claptrap, but it's not. Nearly every religion on earth espouses treating others with respect, doing more good than harm, The Golden Rule, etc., so it's not like this is some sort of new age hullabaloo.  Jesus told us to love one another, so why do we have such a hard time doing it?

So, my challenge to you, dear readers, is to do what you can to be more open, accepting, tolerant and loving of your fellow human beings.  If each of us can do that, perhaps we can make a dent in the violence and hatred in our world and make it a better place for all of us.

Thanks for reading.