I’m sitting here at my desk, and typing. It’s quiet in the house, mom and dad are asleep, the living room television is on low volume, and I can hear a train passing by, its horn blaring and cutting through the crisp, clear air on this 3 AM winter morning.
Not long ago, I wrote the first line of text in my Shadow journal. It is the blessing for the rest of the book, because I want the book, and the reader, to be a testament to the healing power of love.
I say “love” a lot. I know I do. I’m sure some folks have grown tired of it. They may find the word worn or cliche, but it is the only word I have in my arsenal that can even remotely begin to convey how I feel towards others. This is who I am. I love people. I love them fiercely, I love them without compromise, and I love them unconditionally. Even when they hurt me, I still love them.
Sometimes, I wonder if that’s how Jesus felt. I mean, I’m no Son of God, but I can’t help but view people the same way. It’s kind of a “I know they want to stone me, but I still can’t help but love them, because I know who they are deep down.”
We like to separate, we like to divide. We like to make lists of people who can be loved, and who can’t be loved. Everyone possesses their own list, and it changes based on what we are taught, and on our own experiences. It makes it easier to condemn those we don’t love, while excusing those we do love. One man’s minor mistake is another man’s unforgivable error.
It is something we need to eradicate from our emotional and intellectual lexicons, because when we apply these rules, we build uneven terrain upon which everyone stands. That is the seed of injustice, this notion that there are those worthy of love, and those who are worthy only of scorn and hate.
Othering is still a serious problem in our society, especially in the first world, where we use technology to reinforce our biases. As I mentioned several days ago, we now have a system by which we can accuse, condemn, and carry out our own idea of mob justice, and we can do it all without that person ever stepping foot in a court room. That concerns me. No, no, concerns isn’t strong enough. It alarms me, it terrifies me, because a people conditioned to hate and distrust at first sight is a people who can turn on entire swathes of human beings and see them as less than human, as deserving of punishment and rancor.
Look how we treat the mentally ill. Look how we treat the poor. Look how we treat the prisoner, and the condemned. We create this commercial utopia, and sweep those who can’t contribute to it in an acceptable way right under the rug, and then we crush them underfoot as we rush back and forth from one avatar of greed and want to another. Lead around by the nose, the hands of our masters in our purses and wallets, and we just nod our heads when they reveal their truths from on high.
We are replacing love with convenience, and compassion with zero tolerance. We are becoming sedentary moralists, relaxed, and happy with full stomachs, and seeing the hungry and ill as distasteful losers, those unwilling to just follow the plan given from on high, and fully deserving of the pain and squalor in which they live.
How long do we have left? How long do I have left? What future remains? I’m not certain. I let my mind roll the idea around, seeing it from every angle, and I still can’t fathom a solution. I think it’s because a solution requires a cooperative effort, and getting enough people to work on the problem simply hasn’t happened yet. I wonder if it ever will.