If you vote red, blue, or 51 shades of gray (new movie out,
not trying to get sued), I’m talking to you. I promise, this is not a political
rant, but something for all sides to hear, so keep reading. Thank you to my
international readers; however, this post is directed at those living in the United
States.
The county (USA) is divided and everyone is “yelling” at
each other. Friday’s Inauguration is one of the most feared and anticipated
events happening. On the one hand you have supporters who are excited for
change. On the other hand you have non-supporters who are looking at their
counterparts with huge side eyes, like, really? And the world is watching,
wondering how this event in US History will affect world relations.
Let’s back up a second, though. I can’t predict the future,
and neither can you. So let’s talk about what we can affect. Now more than ever
we need to TRY HARDER. I’m not just talking to the Liberals, or just to the
Conservatives, but to everyone. This mentality that our way is the only right
way is hurting us. We have lost friendships over the last couple of months
because people didn’t agree with us. Or people became disrespectful when we
said something they did not agree with. What? We have the freedom to believe and
speak our minds. It is a freedom that we often take for granted. But with
freedom comes much responsibility.
We have categorized people by where they live or what they
look like. We make assumptions about the other sides’ capabilities. We are
talking and talking and talking, but not listening. My purpose is not to
convince you that my side is right and you are wrong. My purpose, is to get you
to consider their story.
Globalization has been great for the world. We are able to
trade goods and purchase things from other countries that we could not, or
chose not, to make for ourselves. But again, anything exploited eventually goes
bad. Soon it becomes cheaper to import than to manufacture. Manufacturing goes down and jobs get
eliminated. People stop going to school
for those lost trades, and now you HAVE to import the materials because you
have lost the skill to make them. The import country is free to raise the price
with no competition. This is no secret and businesses do it all the time. So
it’s really unfair to later get upset and add more taxes to this country for
just using good business practices.
Just like it’s unfair to claim that immigrants take away all
our jobs. First of all, the country was founded on immigrants and it is
something that has always been celebrated. Secondly, most of the jobs people
claim are taken by immigrants, are jobs they don’t want to do. And if they are
jobs they DO want to do, then why is the assumption that the other candidate
wasn’t qualified? Many times I have heard ‘the [Black/Hispanic/Asian/etc]
person took my job.’ What? If you and I both apply and you don’t get it, why
can’t it just be that you were not as fit? The minute a minority and majority
party is involved, there is often a raised eyebrow as if to say the minority
did not truly earn it. That is a problem. Building a wall instead of addressing
the actual issue, is a problem. Paying considerably less money for hard labor
is a problem. So we should fix the problem. Not put yet another band-aid over
it. The reason the wall is so offensive is because people act like Mexicans are
unwanted. Imagine if you were Mexican and living in Texas and you knew that
people around you think you shouldn’t be there, when you are a tax-paying
citizen just like them. How would you feel?
Consider that your kids are being bombed daily on their way
to school and you have to turn off the lights at least once a week, for fear of
being seen. Imagine being in a country where someone might try to kill you,
just because. As a parent, you would do anything in your power to protect your
family; even leaving the place you call home. Refugees are living this life
every day. While it may seem a burden to bare the responsibility of taking care
of people that are not from your country when your own country has issues, what
part of being human is it to ignore someone when you are in a position to help
them? What happens when you are the one that needs the help? Immigration reform
is a HUGE topic, that I can’t cover in this little post, but I am just pointing
out issues that we need to talk about. To look beyond how this issue affects us
at home, but to think, what if we were in that position and home wasn’t safe?
We can’t protect everyone, but as one of the most developed countries in the
world, don’t we have a moral obligation to at least try?
Imagine walking home in the dark on a cold winter night. You
have your hoodie on and are minding your business. A cop car pulls up and you
are scared. Why should you be scared if you didn’t do anything? Sometimes
whether you do something or not is irrelevant. When you see tons of people that
look like you being shot and killed for no reason, with no real punishment, you
feel as if your life does not matter. That is what Black Lives Matter is all
about. It’s not a terrorist group, and the label that caring about a subset of
an American group in America would ever be classified as terrorism is more than
offensive. Yet, we easily dismiss it with All Lives Matter, which was never
excluded. When we consider one another we stop and think of why someone would
need to tell me that their life mattered. If we can’t listen, and instead we
just get defensive and dismiss what this person is trying to tell us, we are
not really trying.
Or instead of a hoodie at night, imagine this person had an
hijab in plain daylight. How would you feel if you were scared to wear a
baseball cap to the game? Not everyone in any group is bad and to automatically
stereotype that they are perpetuates hate. It starts with kids teasing one
another and “random” hate crimes. This is a problem we need to address.
Lastly, I want to challenge you to meet someone that looks
nothing like you this year. Not only meet them, but have a conversation. Learn
the difference between Transgender and transsexual; understand what makes Black
hair so unique; get a refugee penpal who had to leave everything they know and
love to save their life; talk to someone who voted for the other candidate and
truly ask them why; learn about the education system for farm children;
research why affirmative action is in place and the socioeconomic gap in
minorities; ask an NRA-supporter why they love guns so much; learn a language
different from your own so you can understand how difficult it can be; talk to
someone 10 years younger and older than you, and find out what is/was “cool” in
their day; talk to someone on the opposite religious spectrum as you and find
out the basis of their beliefs (or non-beliefs). And finally, something as
simple as, listen to a Pandora station opposite of what you normally listen.
There are 325 million people in the United Sates. Surely, we
the people, can have some control over our destiny. It can't be just one person.
