Please. Don’t belittle. Educate.

Educate, I say. Our freedom depends on It.

I hear and see things that make no sense to me at all. I often wonder why people don’t realize that what they are doing is what they blame others for. But then, I take a look at myself, and I, too, fall into the vicious trap at times.

I find myself reading posts of individuals that are seemingly defending a specific group of people. Often, the way used to try and make people aware of the situation is counterintuitive. The post’s goal seems to be to influence people or to raise awareness on a subject of their choosing. More often than not, the post is violent, blameful, ignorant, all-around negative.  Trying to create a divide by criticizing people for not being aware or uneducated on a subject will not help any cause. Even worse, it will deepen the gap.

I don’t know about you, but I hide those posts from my feed when I see them. It gives me a bad feeling or something, and mostly it saddens me. Ridiculing or belittling people for not being aware of things because they simply haven’t been in contact with this knowingness is no way to open up our minds. Negativity, blame, and violence emprisons you and the cause you are trying to defend. It closes the doors to understanding and encourages distance. The gap gets bigger and bigger and, over time, creates a world of hate and misunderstanding. It creates estranged worlds. The goal is to make One world where everyone can Be – A world of love, acceptance, and unity.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ignorance, in my book, is denouncing hate with hate. I know! Big judgment on my part. I can’t help myself. I say, start by educating, not criticizing. We are not all the same, and we need to educate each other on our many differences, no matter how big a gap they are. I see so much hate and ignorance in posts. It is time to do things differently. We have been belittling for too long. Is it working? I don’t see that it is. Next time we feel like a warrior sitting on our couch in our living room, we must ask ourselves if what we want to make public will further educate people. Is my reader going to feel accepted or instead rejected? Will he feel inclined to understand? As individuals, we are so busy showing off our revolutions that we forget about who is seated in our audience. It is you and I. It is our children. They are learning from us. The world is learning from every one of us.

If your aim is for your audience to feel belittled, so be it. I can’t do anything about personal revenge. However, if your aim is to educate, do it in an inviting and positive way. Do you want them to feel belittled? Do you want them to feel free to ask questions about subjects they know nothing about? Do you want them to feel less than you because they don’t know anything about your lifestyle? Question yourselves before posting anything. Is this advancing my cause? You are criticizing without knowing anything about people’s contexts. Stop judging so openly and so ignorantly. People are watching. My little ones are watching. People are feeding on your words. Do you want to feed them hate, or do you want to feed them, love? Which one will make our world a better place?

We can all debate and educate with respect. We could do better as a society. We have never been so well equipped to spread the news. We decide how, in the form of love or hate, that is of our choosing. People are ready for kindness and peace. We reap what we sow, they say. That must stand for something, right? My wish is that we see the harm that is done to all when an opinion, a debate, or a cause is communicated with words of hate, with intent to hurt and blame, to attack viciously with revenge. I feel the hatred so deeply sometimes it scares the shit out of me. I see no point in trying sometimes. But I keep on going, educating myself and by example alone, hoping my kids will follow. I genuinely believe that there’s a way through love, but hate has become so very powerful. It spreads like wildfire. We need to stand up to it and love instead. It seems simple, and it is, but it’s not easy to practice. It’s about changing our mindsets. What kind of world do we want? One of acceptance or one of exclusion? I believe it belongs to every one of us to lead the way and not participate in negativity. I have control over what I decide to engage in, and you do too. The negative will always find us. It’s up to us to choose it or turn our back on it.

All this talk about optimism is not a denial of our difficulties. It’s a way of approaching life in a positive way instead of always focusing on the negative. It’s educating and learning instead of hating. It’s finding solutions instead of only stating the problems. It’s changing our narrative.

I am in no way judging anyone that, sourced from anger, writes a rant on something they are disgusted about. It’s happened to me more times than I care to admit. But, I’ve changed. I’ve seen that there are better ways to be heard. I’ve also learned that there are ways that I’m drawn to. Positive ways. Educational ways. I always want to understand and learn. If the teaching is done in a positive, kind way, I will be all ears and open to anything. I believe many are thirsty for this way.

Speak, teach, and act in a positive, loving way. The world will repeat.

It’s the power of the ripple effect—the lovely echo. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

I read something the other day that I thought very apropos for this post. I decided to add it here. Enjoy.

The following is from Pam Grout’s book “The Course Of Miracles Experiment.” She writes about erasing meaningless thoughts and assumptions to experience a more pleasing reality. She tells us about a lesson that Anand Giridharandas, an Indian-American journalist, learned.

“The other day a middle-aged white guy came to install a stove in his Brooklyn apartment. The white guy asks, “So…where are you from?“

That all-too-familiar question always raised red flags. Here we go again. Another redneck racist making assumptions about my brown skin.

But he chose to give up that meaningless thought.

Rather than deliver his stock, wiseass answer (Cleveland, because well, he was born and raised by Indian immigrants in Cleveland), he decided to give him the answer he knew he wanted. “I was born in Cleveland, but my family comes from India.” The stove repairman smiled and said, “That’s what I thought. My brother married a woman from India. She has become the light in our family. We were a pretty dysfunctional family and then she turned everything around.”

So yes, it’s easy to assume I know the way people are, the way this day is going to play out, but once I give up my meaningless thoughts, a beautiful new indescribable happiness is free to come streaming in.”

♥

Freeing ourselves of all assumptions is a beautiful way of life. It declutters one’s mind and brings peace to one’s heart. 

Why not start today?

♥