In short, love will save the world. I repeat; LOVE WILL SAVE THE WORLD. Real love, mind you, not what I like to call, "Cafeteria Love," or, "Hate Disguised As Love." You run across these two things very often and I will touch on both of these concepts. First, however, one thing is to be undoubtably understood, and that is this; LOVE IS RESPECT. You cannot possibly love someone or even something without undeniable respect for that person or thing. Respect means respect of privacy, respect of integrity, respect of emotions, and respect of body.
You cannot claim to love a person, or group of persons, and do things that violate their right to safety, privacy, and happiness. Doing so is what I call, "Hate Disguised As Love." My hallmark example of people frequently practicing this (radical as it may be) are the members of The Westboro Baptist Church. The God Hates Fags people claim that their God "hates fags and fag enablers," but if you were to ask them if THEY hate them, their response rings as, "No! We do not hate them. We LOVE them and that is why we feel the need to warn them of God's wrath." Given what we know now that LOVE IS RESPECT, we can recognize that by causing numerous people emotional grief, thereby threatening their right to emotional safety, these church members cannot love them. This concept translates into many others situations and injustices commited by people based upon the merits of nationalism, politics, religion, race, creed, and sexuality.
At this point, I am going to cannon bomb right into the deep end of the controversy pool. Do you have your water wings? Because you're coming with me on this journey. The first thing to understand is that you should not combat one injustice with another. Doing so is not respectful to another, therefore not loving. (Is one and one adding up to two yet?) Not to mention, if we lived an, "Eye For An Eye," society, we'd all be dead ahead of our time. Here it goes, so grab the torches and pitchforks. Whether or not to voluntarily end a pregnancy can be one of the most difficult and daunting decisions a woman can make in her life be it due to personal economic reasons, health etc. Standing outside of a healthcare facility with large pictures of mangled fetuses, calling a woman (who, as I said) may have just made one of the most painful and difficult decisions of her life) a, "baby killer," or, "murderer," is not a loving act. Doing so is putting the emotional health of that particular woman in jeopardy, and not SAY IT WITH ME... respectful to that person. You have every right in the world to not agree with that decision, but consider this; Perhaps taking a more respectful and loving attitude to express that opinion WHEN ASKED (which is key) is going to turn a lot more hearts than making a villain of yourself and envoking a feeling of resentment. Without that, we could be a much more unified group of people resulting in a more peaceful society. This also goes for my pro-choice brothers and sisters. Stuffing your opinion down someone else's throat using vulgarity and condecension makes you no better than anyone else. It only creates negative feelings and stirs up resentment.
I move now to a more conversation-safe point. I read a quote recently that spoke a great deal to me, and it is this:
"I don't believe in charity, I believe in solidarity. Charity is so vertical, it goes from top to bottom. Solidarity is horizontal, it respects the other person. I have a lot to learn from other people."
Eduardo Galeano
When I initially read this, I thought to myself, "You know what? How easy is it to write a check? How easy to throw the discards from my wardrobe into a box and take it to the Goodwill (that I was going to anyways?) How simple to drop the change I got from the cashier into the Salvation Army bucket on my way out the door?" Very simple, I decided. Not to mention I get it back come tax time! AND I never really have to devote any of my own precious time or really get my hands dirty. This is an example of what I have deemed, "Cafeteria Love." That is, going through the, "line," or motions for my, "charitable street cred." At this point, I had become intrigued. I began to research where the money going to these non-profit organizations really goes at the end of the day, and the CEOs of many of these non-profit charitable organizations are making pretty tasty little salaries as it turns out. Okay, that's all well and nice for them, but I began to wonder; Would of the elimination of such massive middlemen eliminate the progressive leeching of donations making it so that more of the initial amount actually reaches it's eventual destination? That makes a great deal of sense to me at the end of the day. My solution is simple and it's this:
IF PEOPLE IN GENERAL ARE MORE OPEN TO SPENDING SOME OF THEIR TIME EXPRESSING THEIR, "LOVE," FOR THEIR FELLOW MAN (as they claim to when they write that check) IN A CLOSE, PERSONAL WAY, THEN WE WOULD NOT HAVE TO CREATE GIANT CORPORATIONS TO GROUP CARING INDIVIDUALS TOGETHER TO DEDICATE A WEEK'S WORTH OF HOURS TO HELPING OTHERS, THEREFORE THE SMALLER, INDIVIDUAL EFFORT OF BILLIONS WILL TRAVEL JUST AS FAR IF NOT MORE.
Okay, that... is a bit radical a concept admittedly. I only mean to say that if we limited all of our charitable effort to a local area with the help of everyone, there would be no salaries to pay, no corporations to support, and you would know that the very same resources would be available to you if need be. Riddle me this; what is the difference between writing your check to your organization of choice, and buying the food yourself, preparing it, and serving it personally at an independant soup kitchen? The answer... time. You're dedicating the funds anyways, why not personally see where it goes? THAT is the difference between charity and solidarity. The difference between passing your money to those, "beneath you," and actually being there with those people, striving with them for better. THAT is love. Let's make charity literally mean love in action. Creating solidarity can only result in a mutual respect and dedication for your fellow man. Apply that on a worldwide scale... and you have peace.
Genuine, active and loving care for one another regardless of race, nationality, sexuality, and religious affiliation will save the world. It's not a concept that will initially become universal, it needs a little nurturing and cultivation much like other great ideas. Like anything else, it will start with a seed, a small idea, but with a great deal of growth brought on by the dedication of everyone, it could change everything as we know it. To avoid social regression, we must move forward. So take these as you will, roll them around if need be, and consider them as a they are, a mustard seed that, with time and a bit of grace, could genuinely, seriously, and very effectly change the world for the better.
You cannot claim to love a person, or group of persons, and do things that violate their right to safety, privacy, and happiness. Doing so is what I call, "Hate Disguised As Love." My hallmark example of people frequently practicing this (radical as it may be) are the members of The Westboro Baptist Church. The God Hates Fags people claim that their God "hates fags and fag enablers," but if you were to ask them if THEY hate them, their response rings as, "No! We do not hate them. We LOVE them and that is why we feel the need to warn them of God's wrath." Given what we know now that LOVE IS RESPECT, we can recognize that by causing numerous people emotional grief, thereby threatening their right to emotional safety, these church members cannot love them. This concept translates into many others situations and injustices commited by people based upon the merits of nationalism, politics, religion, race, creed, and sexuality.
At this point, I am going to cannon bomb right into the deep end of the controversy pool. Do you have your water wings? Because you're coming with me on this journey. The first thing to understand is that you should not combat one injustice with another. Doing so is not respectful to another, therefore not loving. (Is one and one adding up to two yet?) Not to mention, if we lived an, "Eye For An Eye," society, we'd all be dead ahead of our time. Here it goes, so grab the torches and pitchforks. Whether or not to voluntarily end a pregnancy can be one of the most difficult and daunting decisions a woman can make in her life be it due to personal economic reasons, health etc. Standing outside of a healthcare facility with large pictures of mangled fetuses, calling a woman (who, as I said) may have just made one of the most painful and difficult decisions of her life) a, "baby killer," or, "murderer," is not a loving act. Doing so is putting the emotional health of that particular woman in jeopardy, and not SAY IT WITH ME... respectful to that person. You have every right in the world to not agree with that decision, but consider this; Perhaps taking a more respectful and loving attitude to express that opinion WHEN ASKED (which is key) is going to turn a lot more hearts than making a villain of yourself and envoking a feeling of resentment. Without that, we could be a much more unified group of people resulting in a more peaceful society. This also goes for my pro-choice brothers and sisters. Stuffing your opinion down someone else's throat using vulgarity and condecension makes you no better than anyone else. It only creates negative feelings and stirs up resentment.
I move now to a more conversation-safe point. I read a quote recently that spoke a great deal to me, and it is this:
"I don't believe in charity, I believe in solidarity. Charity is so vertical, it goes from top to bottom. Solidarity is horizontal, it respects the other person. I have a lot to learn from other people."
Eduardo Galeano
When I initially read this, I thought to myself, "You know what? How easy is it to write a check? How easy to throw the discards from my wardrobe into a box and take it to the Goodwill (that I was going to anyways?) How simple to drop the change I got from the cashier into the Salvation Army bucket on my way out the door?" Very simple, I decided. Not to mention I get it back come tax time! AND I never really have to devote any of my own precious time or really get my hands dirty. This is an example of what I have deemed, "Cafeteria Love." That is, going through the, "line," or motions for my, "charitable street cred." At this point, I had become intrigued. I began to research where the money going to these non-profit organizations really goes at the end of the day, and the CEOs of many of these non-profit charitable organizations are making pretty tasty little salaries as it turns out. Okay, that's all well and nice for them, but I began to wonder; Would of the elimination of such massive middlemen eliminate the progressive leeching of donations making it so that more of the initial amount actually reaches it's eventual destination? That makes a great deal of sense to me at the end of the day. My solution is simple and it's this:
IF PEOPLE IN GENERAL ARE MORE OPEN TO SPENDING SOME OF THEIR TIME EXPRESSING THEIR, "LOVE," FOR THEIR FELLOW MAN (as they claim to when they write that check) IN A CLOSE, PERSONAL WAY, THEN WE WOULD NOT HAVE TO CREATE GIANT CORPORATIONS TO GROUP CARING INDIVIDUALS TOGETHER TO DEDICATE A WEEK'S WORTH OF HOURS TO HELPING OTHERS, THEREFORE THE SMALLER, INDIVIDUAL EFFORT OF BILLIONS WILL TRAVEL JUST AS FAR IF NOT MORE.
Okay, that... is a bit radical a concept admittedly. I only mean to say that if we limited all of our charitable effort to a local area with the help of everyone, there would be no salaries to pay, no corporations to support, and you would know that the very same resources would be available to you if need be. Riddle me this; what is the difference between writing your check to your organization of choice, and buying the food yourself, preparing it, and serving it personally at an independant soup kitchen? The answer... time. You're dedicating the funds anyways, why not personally see where it goes? THAT is the difference between charity and solidarity. The difference between passing your money to those, "beneath you," and actually being there with those people, striving with them for better. THAT is love. Let's make charity literally mean love in action. Creating solidarity can only result in a mutual respect and dedication for your fellow man. Apply that on a worldwide scale... and you have peace.
Genuine, active and loving care for one another regardless of race, nationality, sexuality, and religious affiliation will save the world. It's not a concept that will initially become universal, it needs a little nurturing and cultivation much like other great ideas. Like anything else, it will start with a seed, a small idea, but with a great deal of growth brought on by the dedication of everyone, it could change everything as we know it. To avoid social regression, we must move forward. So take these as you will, roll them around if need be, and consider them as a they are, a mustard seed that, with time and a bit of grace, could genuinely, seriously, and very effectly change the world for the better.
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