I was driving recently and passed a man on the street corner, holding a sign. I didn't think much of it until I read the hurtful, judgemental, and "othering" words he had written. I noticed my heart immediately felt so sad and I began to wonder what it would be like to drive past this man and his ugly sign and have those words be talking about me.
Of course I value freedom of speech - and I also value treating everyone with dignity and respect. As I drove away, I sent him positive energy and heard myself mumble under my breath, "We just need to be good, decent, respectful humans to each other - why is that so hard?".
I know we don't always see eye to eye with others. Communication is tricky. And most of us have strong convictions. However, I think we sometimes can get caught up in thinking our way of thinking is the ONLY way to think "correctly" - and we can accidentally (or maybe even on purpose) barrel over others in our accidental arrogance. It's easy to do - and yet it's so hurtful to those on the receiving end.
I want to believe we wouldn't ever want to make someone feel like we think they are inferior to us - or that "it's our way or the highway". I want to believe that we are on this journey to improve our self-awareness so we CAN be better humans with each other... where we think before we speak, we consider what it's like to be on the other side of us, and we don't put our freedom of speech above the human decency of being kind to other humans.
This is a messy world full of twists, turns, and challenges. It's hard enough to navigate life some days. My hope is that we can continue to find ways to band together to pull each other up rather than tear each other down. When in doubt - let's all just work hard to be Good Humans! Then, everybody wins! <3
YOU MATTER!
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