I was planning on doing another post about the EU referendum.
Instead, I'm going to write a post about love and hate. Which kind of works into some of the things I've been trying to say in my referendum posts anyway.
If you want to catch up on my EU posts, you can check out the one on migration here, and last week's post on what the EU does for us here.
Give them a look, because the EU referendum on Thursday really is an important issue.
Given the events of this week - the murder of Jo Cox, and the deaths of so many people in Orlando, I felt like this post was an important one to write.
Far-right, white supremacist, extremism and Islamic extremism are two sides of the same warped coin. These people are more alike than they will ever admit.
Both feed on the fear of anyone even slightly different to themselves. Both are an ugly cycle of fear and hate that just keeps fuelling itself.
We should not fear people who are different to us. Because they are also the same as us. And isn't that beautiful?
Why is there so much hate in this world? How is it possible to be so full of rage and fear directed at another person, or group of people? We're a strange little species.
I don't understand. Can I repeat this, again and again? I don't understand.
I love everyone - that may sound disingenuous, but it's true. I love you - whoever you may be. I even love people I don't like (trust me, it's possible.)
Love is infinite. There is room in my heart for all 6 or 7 billion of you. Plus the animals. (And fictional characters, of course.)
Do other people not see the world like this? Is that why I don't understand?
Because from where I'm standing, you are all beautiful, wonderful, precious, creatures - intricate and unique and amazing. All of you.
I may hate your views - but I couldn't ever hate you.
I hate everything that Trump and Farage, and people like them, all over the world, stand for.
I would very much like to punish them for the hurt they've caused throughout their lives, make them re-pay every injustice they've caused - but I'd never shoot them. You can't kill ideas with bullets.
Do I hate the man who killed innocent people in Orlando? Do I hate the man who killed Jo Cox? No.
I feel sorry for them. I hate the hate that motivated them. I hate what they did. I hate what they stand for.
I hate the hurt that must've been inside them.
I wish I could've taken it away before it hurt others. I wish that others had not spread the hate to them. I wish that people did not feel so isolated, alone, and scared that it turns to hate.
I wish so many things.
Can we just be nice? Is that so hard?
Do people have to be murdered because they're different? Do our football fans have to attack each other? Do we have to spread fear like a vile disease?
The connection of Thomas Mair to mental health problems in the media is worrying to me.
Because sometimes the media seems to jump on this as the one and only 'reason' for what people have done - as if all people with mental health problems will automatically commit murder the second they are diagnosed. This just spreads misunderstanding and fear.
People with mental health problems can be vulnerable to extremism. These people are also the victims of this hate - the way it spreads can catch them at their most vulnerable, leaving them defenceless to fight it.
But most people with mental health problems are more likely to be the victims than the perpetrators of crime. Please do not demonise us. We are as normal as you are.
Ideas spread like germ warfare, and those with the least immunity are those who feel isolated, alienated, afraid, hurt.
ISIS' supporters are like lost little boys and girls, who feel like they don't belong; they only realise too late what they have done, if they ever realise at all.
Jo Cox - someone few of us had heard of before a few days ago - lived a beautiful life.
Her actions and her speeches speak of someone full of hope, and love, and life.
The way to honour her flame burning out is by sparking our own. By saying no to hatred, and turning instead to light, and to love.
The people in Orlando were targeted because of their love - because they loved in a different way, because hatred can't understand the many forms that love can take.
Every one of those people was another beautiful flame. Let their deaths strengthen our light; we can't let the darkness be the legacy of their lives.
Love is beautiful. Love is strong. Love endures. It will always win.
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Couldn't have said it better myself, Cee! You can't hate the people who did these crimes, you just have to feel sorry for them. Love always conquers hate.
ReplyDelete100% agree! :)
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