Have you all just really stopped and asked that lately? Have you asked someone how they truly are? Have you thought about how you are doing? Are you completely worn out and burdened? Are you pro mask or no mask? Are you for quarantine or open the doors wide? Are you bombarded with numbers and facts and constant alerts? Then let’s add in the racial divide. Black lives, blue lives, white lives, anarchists, pacifists. Reparations and welfare, monuments and graffiti. OH MY GOSH! No wonder we are overwhelmed, eating more, more alcohol, less sleep!
I was talking to a lady today, a counselor that we refer patients to. She described exactly how I am feeling. That weighted down feeling. Talking with people that are having serious life issues on top of world issues. Feeling of trying to help people and give them the tools they need while trying to connect yourself to the oxygen, the life raft so you can keep floating and keep everyone else afloat.
We are all so busy giving opinions– like I am right now but hey my blog my opinion. We have people out there mask shaming, pointing fingers, judging everything and everyone. I wear scrubs and going to the store after work or getting gas, you get some looks. You see where some aren’t wearing a mask and some are and then see that person shame another person for not wearing a mask. People having made some feel guilty as they have worked the whole time and some were furloughed OR that the whole world didn’t quarantine. And there are the people out there who can converse in a reasonable manner, exchange thoughts and opinions. To be passionate about those opinions and guess WHAT….they are still friends. They didn’t unfriend each other, disassociate themselves and we’re able to listen to each other. They don’t curse each other out, they don’t get mad. They communicate and learn something. And they can agree to disagree. The venom of hatred that some spew is as scaring as scalded skin. But those that can use their words and not tell someone to eff off well that is a grown up right there It is amazing instead of taking your marbles and go home, you actually may have more marbles to play with if you just give people a chance.
So not only are we dealing with “this virus” business, we are dealing with a racial divide. A divide that different groups of people pushing their own agenda. Politics in the mix, an election year you know. You have the media stirring the proverbial pot and people are being inflamed. I am white and a woman. For some that means I have been priveleged and that I am a weaker sex. That I am now judged for my skin color and the size of my derriere. I am being judged for my skin just like my fellow black friends say they are judged. I haven’t had white privilege. I have been working since I was 15. We weren’t rich growing up nor were we poor. No silver spoon in my mouth but love and safety of my family that outweighed any trust fund. We are all so busy judging each other right now. Slavery was an atrocious process. Being judged for the color of your skin is unacceptable. Lumping every person by the actions of others is awful. Saying all police are bad, all black people are thugs, all white people are racists. It isn’t an all or none. There are “bad” people across the board. So do we all want to be lumped into bad people because the action of a few? Do we continue to judge everyone for everything and choose negativity? Do we want to see the day of sun shining through the clouds or just the clouds covering our vision?
Our system is flawed and broken. There has been police brutality against black and whites. There have been actions against another human being not fit for even an animal to be treated. Come to think of it, animals sometimes get better treatment than humans. There have been well educated black and white people and there have been thieves in white and black people. Not every white person has been offered and obtained a life of leisure based on their color and not every black person has been on welfare and the projects. Poverty doesn’t see the color of your skin, despair and tragedy is an equal opportunity emotion and not based on race or heritage. There has been a history full of atrocities. Hitler and the jewish people, Native American Indians and the loss of land, the Trail of Tears. Women and obtaining the right to vote yet still paid less than a man in some jobs and positions. (And there are some jobs women can’t do like a man can and vice versa. Hate me for that comment but it is the truth. But if we both can do the same job, then we both should be paid the same). Segregation and the civil rights movement. But for every evil in this world, there has also been moments of grace and people who stand in the gap for those that can’t. And some are very day people and some are people who work behind the scenes never claiming glory or fame for their deeds. Right now we here more about the evils and the destruction in this world. And for the ones we do hear about, well they fit the agenda at the time.
When I was in high school in that 80s decade of big hair and neon colors. We each got along. In my school there were different groups of people. Preppy, artsy, middle of the road and what some called red neck. And sometimes people hung with their group and yes there were mean girls, believe me, and sometimes people got along no matter which group you fell in. But I don’t remember seeing someone as their color. I saw people. And honestly I remember wishing I had designer clothes and a cool car. My parents kept me grounded and said no matter what I wore, what I drove and whatever my last name was….I was still me. I think alot of my classmates would have wished we passed some of the awkward stages and wanted to fit in, but we all got along. The worst thing was being put on a locker or thrown in the duck pond, not being shot at or heroin over doses or social media BS. We respected our parents and authority. We tried to push the boundaries but knew the punishment when caught. We all push those boundaries. But we still had a healthy respect.
We have lost so much since then. Our youth for one. But more so we have lost our ability to communicate, respect each other for our thoughts and beliefs. We have become more divided than ever before. Have you thought about that? Have you thought about how sometimes it feels like we are all puppets to someone else’s strings? We want to stand up for what we believe in and we want the truth, facts, we want to feel safe. We feel anything but safe. The news reports the virus is at every corner and on the opposite corner is bricks and fireworks and masks and megaphones. MAKE IT STOP!
I have had family and friends and co workers unfriend me, not talk to me or disassociate (boy are they missing out on this sparkling personality). I have been told I am to conservative with some of my views and to liberal with my sexual innuendos. I have been criticized for my political thoughts and ideas. But guess what, I will listen to yours. I may not agree with you, I may think you have lost your damn mind but I will still love you. Yes I may tell an inappropriate joke or be silly but I still love Jesus. Now I know you think I am going to the 60s now with my “love” comment. I still shave my arm pits and no recreational drugs for me…but love is missing from our world. We are falling into the hands of so many puppet masters, we have become slaves to money and political correctness. We are intertwined with the fabric of everyone’s lives we forget how to live our own. And we feel the need to tell everyone what to do to meet specific agendas, expectations and the status quo.
I feel like my colleague said today…weighted down. The burdens of this world become heavier everyday and we heap those burdens on ourselves and others. If you are in my family, if you are in my circle, if you are loved by me, I will love and protect you with all I am. Even if I just met you and you have some thoughts you want to share, I am your gal to listen. No judgement. I may not make the same choices as you, but I will still be open to what you are telling me. I can actively listen. Maybe that is part of this as well….we actively talk but we don’t actively listen. We actively type and be keyboard bullies, but we forget how to communicate. We are so busy dividing up sides politically and racially, gender and economically, everyone has that “box” to fit into and heaven forbid you open that side of the box up! Heaven forbid you have a different opinion. Bless your little special heart, your momma dropped you as a baby right? Have you thought about things beyond the right now? I am no preacher, I am a sinner and I know I fail Him more than I should. Remember my blog and I can say my opinion freely here, and you can to. Anyways, my belief is that if you confess your sins, you ask Jesus into your heart and trust in Him and are saved by the blood, you are going to Heaven. I believe from my limited understanding and my reading that He is preparing many rooms waiting for us. Now my Bible doesn’t say we will have a segregated heaven, a project side and a country club side. I don’t read where there will be division by color, race or gender. I read of the streets of gold, no more pain or sorrow, no more sickness. A glorified body, a heavenly home with the heavenly hosts where our loved ones who have passed on are waiting to greet us on that glorious shore. That the Man who died for me, who forgives me and asks me to forgive those who trespass against us, is going to be there waiting. Not because of my color or my bank account but because He loved me despite all the times I couldn’t love me. We all are so busy running like little ants around this world and for what? We are alienating friends and family, we are unkind to those around us because we are mad they don’t agree with is. We are cruel with our words and our actions. We are judge and jury. See why we are tired? We are only human. Repeat that, we are only human. Not perfect, not without sin, not without making mistakes.
So maybe we each take that huge collective breath. That we stop being the Karen’s and Richards of the world ( yes the current climate has a name for the people who act like judge and jury). We each matter, we each have a story to tell, we each have an opinion, we each have wants and needs. So how are you doing? How are you really doing? It is ok to say you are swimming in mud, just don’t get stuck there! We aren’t in this alone. Our world and all that is going on right now is some of the biggest life events our young folks have seen. After 9/11 I saw a country united, patriotism flew as high as the Thunderbirds. Neighbors helping neighbors. Today I see neighbor against neighbor, everyone out for themselves and hoarding toilet paper like we are reinacting 16 Candles and every other 80s movie. I see fear and hate and uncertainty. I see history trying to be re-writen and doomed to be repeated. This is just my perspective and my thoughts. You have yours and know I am here to listen. So how are you doing? Just think about it and maybe let’s see how we each are doing. Stay well and stay safe and know that you matter, each and everyone of you. Much love
