In an effort to compensate for the utter lack of bloggage last week I am posting twice this week.
[CONTROVERSIAL CONTENT PROXIMITY WARNING]
I'm sorry for any inconvenience that may occur from any way you take anything I said, say, or will say...except not really.
I want to make sure everyone understands: I'm not a mean person! I try not to be rude. I try to avoid confrontation. I don't like it! It's awkward and honestly, it's usually a waste of time.
However, I do live my the idea that I really don't care what most people think about me. I just don't. There are a few people that I know well that know me well and I trust and respect their opinion. That being said, I don't follow all the advice they give me and I don't always do things based on what they say. I am me, and for the most part, I like me! The things I don't like I am trying to change. The things I can't change, I'm learning to live with. :D
Anyways...
In light of the recent riots, I have something I want to say.
First of all: I don't claim to know very much about what is going on. And I don't want to know. I'm a cynic. I don't need to know all the little details about how broken the world is. I'm well aware it is broken.
And about not knowing or wanting to know... I was having a discussion similar to what I am writing about and apparently I sounded apathetic or something about the plights of others. I was then confronted with, "So what, you just sit there and do nothing about Christians being killed by ISIS until they're knocking on your door?"
My answer is simple: duh! I'm sorry if that sounds rude, or mean, or heartless or whatever. But what am I supposed to do? I do not have the influence to bring the world together to oppose ISIS. I do not have the finances to travel and raise awareness about what ISIS is doing. I do not have the skills or personality to speak against ISIS and get people ready to act against them. I do not have the contacts so hire people to hunt down members of ISIS. So just what exactly am I supposed to do? So as long as ISIS stays out of my area of influence, no, there's not really much I can do, is there? I can pray. And that's really about it. Granted, I believe that prayer can do a lot (yes, calm down, I am one of those people) but that's really all I've got right now.
Do not mistake my ignorance for apathy, nor my apathy for ignorance. I keep the two separate. If I appear one way, it is for a reason and the other should not be assumed.
Second: I'm not writing to address the specifics about what has been going on with ISIS or with the riots. I am writing about the general, underlying issues. It is relevant. I'm just not throwing around my two cents about something I know nothing about.
Speaking about something people are talking about without knowing anything about it: STATISTICS!!!
People say, "Blah blah number of black people were shot by cops."
[To be read in some over-the-top game show host kind of voice]
"Thank you for that random, non-specific, and worthless bit of information! Does anyone else have an equally ludicrous tidbit of about numbers?"
Then other people say, "Well yeah, but twice as many white people were shot by cops."
P.S. I do believe it is possible to actually speak in italics. And this is an example of when it happens.
This is usually where the debate ends or descends into total chaos.
How about this concept: NONE of that information is helpful for anything that is going on!!!
If you're going to argue about the racist nature of the police (which by the way is jobist, you're instantly prejudice (the exact thing you're ranting against), and you look like a dork) you have to look at a ridiculous number of statistics. And that won't even cut it because you're still stereotyping!!!!!!!!!!
How many black people committed crimes last year? How many white people committed crimes last year? How many black people were shot by the police last year? How many of those people were shot by white cops? How many white people were shot by cops last year? How many of those people were shot by black cops? How many black people live in the United States? How many white people live in the United States? How many of the people shot by police were shot during or after violent crimes, were armed, or were a threat to the police or civilians whether they were armed or not? What are the cities where these shooting took place? Of the places where these shooting occurred, how many of them were in areas where police officers have been shot? How many police officers were shot in each of these cities? How many of these officers are going to be a little more worried about the statistical probability of being shot themselves?
Slightly unrelated but equally important questions.
How many of these videos of police brutality and police shootings show the whole story? How often do these videos start right before the supposed "brutality". How many start with the crime? How many of them show what the criminal did to deserve or not deserve "brutality"? What is the actual definition of "brutality" and how can we say for sure whether something is "brutal"? (by the way, Google has the definition as "savage physical violence; great cruelty." The mildest definition of "savage" is "(of something bad or negative) very great; severe." And according to Google according to the law, "cruelty" is defined as "behavior that causes physical or mental harm to another, especially a spouse, whether intentionally or not.") So to me, the word "brutality" either sounds vary subjective or can only be defined by the one subjected to said brutality. So anyone playing the brutality card is kinda cheating unless they have actually talked to the victim. Just sayin...
To continue: Why do people only seem to care about the videos that are shoved in their faces on social media? How many crimes are committed a day that aren't publicized? How many times does a cop do something right that aren't publicized? Why do people rant and rave about the media distorting truth or straight up lying but they trust everything they see on their facebook wall or youtube without doing ANY kind of research?
Why do people just want to get their way? Why do people only care if their voice is heard?
*sigh*
As I said, the world is broken. It's sad. But it's true. And in my mind everyone has two choices about how to react to the world's brokenness.
1: Deal with it. That's it. It's that simple. What is having a hissy fit about it going to do?
2: Do your part to help fix it. Disclaimer: It can't be truly fixed. This world is broken so fundamentally that it cannot be fixed by human means. However, it can be better than it is! And doing our part is easy. Just love people!
Another disclaimer: I am not a flower child hippy. When I say love people I don't mean get all tripped on something and spread nasty diseases for free. I mean genuinely love people. Unfortunately, this is something that is not often taught in our society. People today have a hard time loving.
It may not seem like much but a lot of turmoil and friction between people can be solved just by loving. No matter what your belief is on the creation of the universe we can all agree that the entire universe was made to interact as a single unit. By this I mean there are not stand alone energies or entities. Everything serves a purpose for the greater good of everything else. Call it the circle of life (and now we all have it stuck in our heads) or what have you: everything serves something else.
So why do we think people are exempt from that?
Why do people lie around doing nothing for anyone else and only thinking about themselves? And why are others of us ok with that? And no, I'm not just talking about low income people waiting for their monthly check coming in from the taxes paid by high income people. I am talking about them. But I'm also talking about the high income people who go to their workplace in the morning, ignore the needs of all their employees, fire and hire based on numbers alone, make a paycheck, and then go home to isolate themselves from the rest of the world. I'm also talking about the middle class people who go to work, cut people off without using their turn signal, come home to their spouse and kids, and then lock themselves in a room with their (fill in the blank with a hobby/more work). I'm talking about all these people.
Loving people means doing things with their benefit in mind. What does it benefit me that I pick up flowers for my wife on the way home? It really doesn't. I have to spend an extra ten minutes NOT at home at the end of a work day. I have to go SHOPPING!!! Bleacgh... And I have to spend money that's not in the budget. I don't get flowers for my wife because it benefits me. I get them because I love her and I want her to be happy. That's it. I do it because I love her.
And that's a small, every day kind of love. There's so much more that can be done.
"But what about me? How will I be taken care of if I'm busy loving other people all the time?"
Ok, if you asked that question, you might be a jerk. You might not be! It's a logical question to ask. If I'm giving, how do I receive? Sure. However, that's not usually asked in an objective, I-love-loving-other-people-I-just-want-to-make-sure kind of way.
Answer: if the universe was made to service the rest of the universe, wouldn't it follow that we were made to love? And if we were made to love wouldn't it then be fulfilling to love? Trust me, the universal system won't break because you're doing something you were meant to do. Just sayin...
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