The question of the week being asked by numerous friends of mine is: What can we do specifically to bring about change? My answer would probably be, see it. Then challenge yourself to think outside your comfort zone, and care beyond what is safe.
Save the whales doesn't mean screw all the other fish in the sea.
Save the trees doesn't mean forget about the oceans.
# BringBackOurGirls doesn't mean, you can keep the boys.
VegasStrong didn't mean all other cities were weak.
I understand how divisive slogans can be, and these past few weeks have proved that. Now when we see a slogan we lose our minds. A slogan to some is a call to arms, to others, it is seen as an empathetic show of support for those hurting, to another group it is a cry for help to raise awareness for those ignored. And to another group, it might as well be a swastika.
If "Yeah But" is historically dismissive language, then I want to challenge us to be uncomfortable.
During Kristallnachthe, while Jews were being forced from their homes, hospitals, and businesses and marched off to unimaginable horrors, what if you saw a sign that said "Jewish Lives Matter"? What would you think of someone if you overheard them say at that moment, "Yeah but, all lives matter."
The evil that blanketed our world nearly wiping out Native American Tribes. Sending millions of Jews to their death, trafficking young boys and girls all over the world to be sex slaves is the same evil blacks have been fighting long before 1787 when we became 3/5ths of a person.
That evil still exists today.
It is the complete devaluing of another human life. That evil is being so afraid, of losing what we feel we are entitled to, that it has become easier to wipe another person off the face of the earth then deal with the fear. That sense of entitlement and fear can't be voted in or out of office, it can't be legislated, and it can't be cured with a pill or a vaccine. It has to be cut out of the human heart.
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