we're all in this sticky situation together.
I love those who voted for Hillary, I love those who voted for Trump, I love those who voted for a 3rd party candidate and I love those who didn't vote at all. I quite seriously considered all four options. With this said, I realized that regardless of who I voted for, if I hate Hillary and her supporters, I'm propelling myself into the same snakiness and dishonesty that I think she is. I realized that if I hate Trump and his supporters, I'm letting the same discrimination and dirtiness that sickens me, win. Liking someone is a feeling, but choosing to love is a choice, and that choice can be made synonymously while continuing to fight for what you believe.
By no means am I the poster-child of how to be, my ideas are still, and will forever be, under construction, and I could be wrong about all of this. But what I have realized is that it's silly to make assumptions about a person until stepping into their shoes, the problem (and beauty) being that each of our feet is incredibly unique. It is impossible to perfectly fit into someone else's shoes as we, whether we like it or not, are effected by our economic background, childhood, ethnicity, education, financial stability, religious belief, physical location, biological make-up, gender, sexual orientation, environment... the list is astronomical. Endorse someone else's shoes, dislike someone else's shoes, but the fact is that they are all shoes with a purpose to be worn by feet; the common thread of humanity living and walking on the same ground. We will need to make a strong, proactive effort to offer arch support to each other to be able to stand in the times to come. But I'm thankful that our ideas are not uniform, because my world is continuously being shaken, which spearheads my growth and discovery when I choose to listen to what different shoes have to say.
Media is biased. Articles are biased. Many statistics are biased. This post is biased. I'm biased. Every single person has some kind of bias engrained into them, and I think it's important to critically, yet kindly judge those biases in order to learn from them. But I think the real issue at hand is how we choose to deal with our biases, accepting the fact that we are biased and the intention behind how and why we communicate our ideas. And when we can listen to and understand each other's biases, that's a beautiful thing, a uniting factor between souls, and there's a strength in that unity with a growth and wisdom of agreeing to disagree after truly listening to each other.
Politics and standing firm in what you believe and understanding why you believe it is wildly, radically important. But in addition:
My Dear Wormwood,
Be sure that the patient remains completely fixated on politics. Arguments, political gossip, and obsessing on the faults of people they have never met serves as an excellent distraction from advancing in personal virtue, character, and the things the patient can control. Make sure to keep the patient in a constant state of angst, frustration, and general disdain towards the rest of the human race in order to avoid any kind of charity or inner peace from further developing. Ensure the patient continues to believe that the problem is "out there" in the "broken system" rather than recognizing there is a problem with himself.
Keep up the good work,
Uncle Screwtape.
"Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis ~ 1942
The United States of America need some damn listening skills, damn good intention and divine intervention alongside individual, driven love and development.
That's my personal prayer and plan of action from here.
