I've been thinking a lot lately about society and what our world has become. I have been contemplating the reasons that humans act the way they do. Why we have riots in the streets and politicians yelling and screaming at each other. Why Religion has seemingly become a hateful practice. I think I have an answer. Societal Unacceptance. I think the issue with society is that we cannot live in true harmony together because we cannot all accept each other for who we are.
A friend of mine posed a question on Facebook awhile back that I found interesting. The post read: "Religion kills. Discuss."
My response to that was no it doesn't. Now, I am not religious. Spiritual? Yes. But not religious. I have never read the bible or any other religious material. I have, however met and conversed with friends and people who are religious, who do believe in various religious beliefs and ideas. They are all very aware that I am gay. They have never told me I am going to hell. Never told me that who I love is a sin. They have told me, and made me feel, accepted, loved. The idea that religion is somehow evil, or what someone believes in or who they worship is wrong or hurtful is human made I believe. Would you worship someone or something that preached evil? Would you worship someone or something that told you to hate a group of people? At a basic human level, no one would. Religion was never meant to harm people. Religion, in it's original meaning, was never meant to assassinate someone's character. Thou shall love thy neighbor is in the holy bible. There isn't an unless or a but after that sentence. Someone once told me, who is a Christian, that any Christian that preaches hate and discrimination against someone for who they are, is not a true Christian. But yet, in our society we have seen hate and awful acts linked to Religion. That isn't what religion is meant to be. But yet, we attack people that are religious because we assume that what we see on the news or on the street, is how every religious person must be. I use to be like that. When I first came out I thought it was my duty to make every single person believe that being gay is ok. I thought it was my duty. But I've realized over time that, number one, that is humanly impossible, and number two, I don't need to. I don't need everyone in the world to think being gay is ok or to believe that gay marriage is ok. What I do need? And what we all need? Is to be accepted for who we are, to be loved for who we are. My mother, when I came out, said something to me that has never left me. "I may not always agree with the things you do, but I will always support you." Isn't that, at a basic human level, what we all want? Isn't it what we all need? To be supported by our friends and family. To be supported by our peers.
The problem is, on another level, we aren't ok with just that. On some other level we have this primal need to take down and destroy anyone who disagrees with us. I think politics plays a huge part in this.
Look at different political parties and you start to see something. The parties on the right, in most cultures those are more Conservative, cater to big corporations and usually more religious people. Their views tend to be catered to people who believe that protecting women, LGBTQ+ people, people of color, and those that are marginalized in society is not important. They tend to be the parties that roll back a lot of protections for people and giving the wealthiest 1% of society tax breaks. They tend to work for the corporations. They don't serve all of society, but neither do people on the left side of the political spectrum. They tend to be more democratic parties. They cater to those in marginalised communities, they believe in protecting people like women, people in the LGBTQ+ community, etc. But, they don't serve the people in big corporations. The point I'm trying to make is that a true political party, a true leader, should want to help everyone. They should work for all of the people in their community or country, not just some of them. There's two things that need to come out of politics for that to work. Money and Religion. You can't run a country or a city with your own Religious values and beliefs because not everyone you serve shares those beliefs. You can't be in bed with big corporations and want to ensure they pay their fair share of taxes. When you bring Religion and/or money into politics it trickles down. You end up with a society like we have today, where people are angry at each other, where rage outruns reason. If you have a political system that accepts everyone and serves everyone, you wouldn't have so much anger and hate in society.
Here's something everyone should try. Be kind. To everyone. No matter if they are a different political party than you, no matter if they are of a different religion than you, just be kind. Accept those around you just as you would want them to accept you. Being an activist and ensuring that everyone is afforded the same rights and freedoms is important. It absolutely is. But, yelling and screaming and demeaning people for believing otherwise is not going to get us anywhere. The truth is, we are all going to believe what we believe. The truth is, that's ok. The truth is, if we learned to accept each other, no matter what our belief system is, if we learned to live in harmony together instead of war against each other, we would be a lot better off. Because your beliefs don't have to come at the cost of unacceptance. So be kind. Stop berating people online, stop using obscene language on the streets, and be kind. Because at the end of the day, we are all human. At the end of the day, we all want the same things. Love, compassion, empathy, and most of all, acceptance.
"Do unto others as you would have others do unto you"- The Golden Rule.
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