There is a lot of hate in the world.
I am not going to say that I know all the answers on how to fix the brokenness, but I must respond to the bombings in Austin.
A few weeks ago, there were some bombs placed in the mail that killed 2 and injured one. A few days ago, I was at a South by Southwest event that was canceled due to bomb threats. Unfortunately, yesterday, another bomb went off and hurt two people. I wish I could say this is new for me but I experienced the Boston Marathon Bombing.
Why?
I see this happen and I cannot come to grips with one word- Why?
Bombings, violence, and abuse happen everywhere at all moments of the day. There are many factors in these Austin bombings. I cannot speak on the person who has done this because no one knows. We do not even know if all the attacks are connected or separate. In pursuing figuring out the why to this madness, I found myself falling on social constructs and how we as people separate each other.
Kids are not born with prejudices.
Kids observe, and they are nurtured. I feel like a lot of my adult life has been realizing the different prejudices and then pursuing breaking down those prejudices.
The one thing everyone in this world has in common is that we are all humans.
I believe that that fact alone can mend indifferences. I am not perfect, and will hurt people but being human- that is beautiful. I think it is interesting that religions, which are supposed to be "unifying" end up being a catalyst to war. But Jesus did not preach for war. He preached empathy and to transcend social constructs, social rules, and social traditions. Jesus saw the human, not the color, gender, socioeconomic class, or religion. We have more in common with one another than we do differences. But what is crazy, is that we scrutinize those differences. If you have taken a history class or two, you would learn that most hate in the world stems from these differences.
Loving others is hard.
To stay safe, people build up walls to separate themselves from having to deal with another person who is "different." People do not want to get uncomfortable to understand the differences which in turn creates more walls between humans.
Many people in the history of the world have gone out to pursue loving humans. Jesus was one of many, and he displayed a level of empathy when he was with the Samaritan woman at the well. Samaritans were DISPIZED by Jews and also, a man should not be in contact with a woman like Jesus was at that time in history. Jesus did not see a Samaritan woman- he saw a human who needed to be loved.
We are all humans that need to be loved. My goal is to pursue seeing humans as humans alone and to love each human equally. I am not the one that can stop bombings. I am not going to war or becoming a detective. But my battle is in my everyday life, and that is where I will fight. I hope that by loving those around me, people will be inspired to love those around them.
I speak from a weakness- I speak from messing up. I have many prejudices that I am working on breaking! Join me! The only way we can beat hate is by love.
Love wins always.