This week, I cried tears for society.
I cried for the familiar pattern of people deciding their wants are more important than another person’s needs.
I cried for those who suffer because someone else needed to scratch an itch and, in the process, dehumanized them until they became nothing more than the scratching stick.
I cried for those who are targeted without anyone caring who they are, whom they love, what they have survived, or what their story is. Without anyone pausing long enough to see their humanity and their worth.
I cried because this is a universal human experience, and I cried because some groups bear the brunt of it far more than others.
Some people are valued more highly by society, and they absorb that distorted message until they believe their comfort, their certainty, or their desires matter more than another person’s humanity. And then they convince themselves that the fact that they suffer means someone (usually the wrong someone—someone with less power) has taken something from them.
I cried because they don’t see they are part of the whole, and they don’t see that they are looking the wrong direction when they try to solve for their discomfort.
They don’t see that when we diminish another person, we diminish ourselves. That every act of dehumanization tears at the fabric that holds all of us together.
From the news cycle to conversations with friends I sat beside this week. From an unexpectedly well-timed Facebook post to being reminded of a modern philosopher’s piercing words or wisdom. Everywhere I turned this week, I found myself returning to the same grief.
I know I must convert this to action. I must be the change. But for now, I am sitting with a deepened empathy for the suffering of society.
Not just the suffering we endure, but . . .
The suffering we create.
The suffering we normalize.
The suffering we inherit.
The suffering we participate in, every single day.
And I wonder what the world would look like if we truly had eyes that see.
Be love. Feel love. Do love.
Renee