Our Values
mixed up
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distribution)…well, we can’t hide the truth that cuts deep into our core values or what should be core values.
Never the less, we fail to appropriately address the broken pieces of the mirror on the ground. Instead, we step on and bleed and place Band-Aid’s of half-truths and lies. The elected president and all he has said, and what he's embroiled himself in along with his chosen people, and how those people talk to others, all filters down. Behavior from many of our leaders in the past has riddled our society in a ball of confusion in what is acceptable. And, what the leaders are displaying today is no different. Trump has made it fashionable for a person of leadership, to lie and manipulate to force his agenda upon everyone in this country. All forms of public officials, from mayors, Congress, judges, police chiefs, down to the street police, the clergy and others in some power structure who are more on the front line of modeling humanity in our society go a long way in influencing our behaviors. We must look at these influential people as no longer being role-models and how we should act in society especially as we look at the apparent epidemic of ugly behavior going on in this country as it pertains to the taking of human lives from the hands of their fellow humans. Whether it is cops using deadly force or politicians that want to change our healthcare system to a system that would land many without insurance, which will too lead to earlier deaths…these people of power have a hand in the taking of human lives without any
repercussions of doing so.No matter, if it's about national health care or young men who watch a man die as they record the event and laugh, our human empathy, morals, and values appear to look like targets blown away. We can’t only blame the people in positions of power either. While we are on the subject of a mirror…we also must take a look in the mirror at our role in all of this. Within our social media posts and comments, we pick and choose when it is right concerning the police who take lives. We seemingly choose what is acceptable and not acceptable for people who are unarmed or have mental situations, and some seem to be okay with death presented by authorities, and not judges and juries of our peers. Now, let’s look deeper into the actions of teen boys who watched, recorded, and laughed as a man drowned. They actually... WATCHED, RECORDED, and LAUGHED as a man drowned! What is wrong with that picture? I tell you what is wrong, our society has become desensitized, and there are fewer regards for human lives and not enough accountability placed on every one of us, no matter our color, sex, or social status, to deter all people from such actions. When it comes to these young men, what example have we set for them? From who have they learned empathy? Did they learn anything from our sarcasm, our joking, and often biased and sometimes racists
ways or callous, offhanded comments in posts and actions?We are their leaders! We can always scream at, and about the parents, but then again, who taught the parents? You see,
there are so many inroads and dead-ends when it comes to love and compassion and the lack thereof.
Our behavior is not a fallen tree in the forest that no one hears. It is as if we don't know a tree makes a sound when it falls and doesn't hurt everything on the ground near the fall. All our actions are reverberating, and the repercussions come to later when it shows up, as in these young men, who seemingly lack hearts. Are we a part of the ugly? We have to ask ourselves are we a part of them? Why of course we're not, especially when we don't want to take any responsibility. Yes, the quick, convenient answer is no, “I would never be like them.” However, the question is, are we a part of them as in, any of our civilities and behaviors? Is there any part of the substances of sympathizing DNA that flows through them that flows in all of us?
Being of an ugly heart is not something new. It goes back to Cain and Abel if you're into biblical thought. If not, go back to this country's founders and slavery, and the lifetime of hurt it has put down in this country. We as a people have to do better in recognizing and having empathy for each other and then stepping up at the right time and moving aside when time. We all must be a leader in the “having a heart” department. We have to stop picking and choosing the pieces of the broken mirror to hide thoughts and actions or lack of, and in reality, take a look in the mirror as a whole person.