WHO'S TO BLAME

I never post my thoughts, opinions, or beliefs regarding politics, or religion.  I stay out of big stories, and away from anything that could bring argument.  Today, I make an exception.  I don’t want to argue with anyone – and I do want to tell you that we don’t have to be at the mercy of bullies: from the first grade bully, to someone willing to kill.  We, you and I, can save the world.

When there is a person who takes the lives of others, I notice that everyone looks for someone to blame.  You may lean on your religious beliefs, or your political beliefs, or simply that killing is wrong.  You might blame the gun, the leadership, religion, sexuality, or even question everyone else’s beliefs.  You may feel that tragedies wouldn’t happened if everyone just believed like you do.

These mindsets are all so irrelevant, and completely unhelpful.

The truth is that it’s my fault, and it’s your fault.  Every single one of us has to stop placing the blame, and start taking responsibility.  Ask yourself:

What have you done to ensure that others will see the world as a good and happy place? 

What have you done to help rescue the bully so that (s)he could learn respect and kindness, and pass it on to others? 

When did you realize that you couldn’t force others, by fighting them, to become good people, and start working to help them become good people through example? 

When did you realize that being hit, disrespected, uncared for, and pushed into someone else’s beliefs and ideals didn’t work – and stopped supporting this a method for fixing things? 

We all want to be treated with kindness and respect, we want to have our beliefs, our feelings, our lives treated as though they matter and are important.  We want to be understood, autonomous, and free… We want all of this in safety!  We want to know that world is a safe place.  We don’t want to be afraid that someone else will harm us, in any way.

If want these things in the world, then we have to have these things within us.  They need to be so strongly within us that they leak out into the world; kindness, compassion, safety.  We have to show ourselves, and others that a hero makes the world a better place, not through fighting, not through death and destruction, not through belittling others, or forcing our opinions on them, but through understanding, cooperation, kindness, trust, honesty, safety; by experiencing, teaching, and showing love. 

You, me, all of, we can stop the tragedies, if we stop blaming others, and start looking for how we can change our own hearts, and help make the world a more wonderful place – not through the things we hate (war, force, aggression), but through what truly motivates us, joy, thriving, safety, success, and acceptance.  We are each still as a child that desires to be accepted, loved, and shown by example how the world is beautiful.  We can all do this for ourselves, and each other – and then, and only then, will the world be saved.