Hatred, Apathy, and LOVE

I am trying so hard to understand people but it isn’t easy. There are those who say the meanest things sometimes. It’s not easy for me to watch suffering and pain or people ignoring others and maybe inflicting some pain of their own. We should be careful of our words. We need to think of others. I am still growing and I speak out about things I see as injustices—not to provoke but to discuss and see if we can resolve things. Too often there are those who have stuffed their ears and maybe pulled the wool over their own eyes.

 

I had a rough week. This is supposed to be an inspirational post…LOL… I will see what I can do to make it that way. 😉

I took a reprieve from facebook this week because I could not deal with the negativity. It is suffocating—I feel like I am being choked. People speak bad about the ice bucket challenges; there is meanness about political issues; negativity about environmental issues; and then there is what some may call stupidity about science issues. I threw up my hands, made a cover picture that said, “Closed. Gone fishing,” and included a note that said it bothers me how people treat others. It was obvious I was a little peeved.

 

This did not sit well with some of my facebook friends. One messaged me. She was concerned. Another one asked if there was anything I needed. She gave encouraging words and said that I help her in ways I don’t know because of what I go through and things I share. They were being nice. Another one didn’t reach out, didn’t try to talk to me—but I didn’t hold it against her. We aren’t close and have become more distant after our run-in about the climate change video when she was saying negative things about people. So what did she do? She changed our relationship status to family but we aren’t family. There are people I barely know who I consider closer. I did not get a choice to deny the request—thanks, Facebook. I really appreciate it (sarcasm). I guess FB knows best, right? I am kidding but FB did ask me how she was related…sister, aunt, etc. Can anyone claim you as family? That is scary if so. And, if you unfriend them before they remove the relationship status, does the family status remain…as in…would I still be tied to her in some way?

 

I kindly asked her to remove the family relationship. She had a temper tantrum. Needless to say, it resulted in her deleting me (unfriending) which I really don’t think is a bad thing but that was not my intention. She was not interested in anything I had to say. She just wanted to manipulate. I found that hurtful but that is on her. So often we want to love only those who love us. She isn’t a giving person…she takes too much and doesn’t give back.

 

Just think if we only love the people who love us…and not love all people. We need to love everyone especially those who do not love us. I tried to explain this but she wasn’t having any of it. Sometimes negative people need to get out of our bubble. Hopefully, they will be close enough to see they can’t hurt us and they will reap good things without having a negative effect on us. Sounds bad but sometimes there is a limit to what we can tolerate and still be positive.

 

There is so much apathy in the world that I applaud people and things that bring to light information such as the ice bucket challenge. ALS is such a dreaded and terrible disease…Bill knows this (Hi, Bill 🙂 [LINK]). I had concerns about it at first but I was like—it’s about time people get behind other little known diseases and bring awareness to others. Whether it is because we aren’t affected or we are just too busy or whatever, we need to become aware of others who are suffering and do something. By the way, here is a link to Bill’s own ice bucket challenge. (More about this next time.) 🙂

 

Then there are those who are trying to bring awareness to charities for what is called Japy day…this idea of having a world day of charity has been tried before and we need to keep trying—not give up. There was a video made and shared about helping the homeless. People found fault with it for many reasons but you know I don’t care. I think the real reason was to bring about change in our world—to remove some of the apathy. People said bad things because they said the video was a stage production. I don’t care. If someone is doing something to cause positive change, WONDERFUL! We need all the help we can get!

First video – about Japy Day – 30 August 2014. Second video – encouraging others to help and to show what community means. Yes, I know it is AUG 31. I had planned to post this earlier this week but it is never too late to help others.

 

I have a friend who said homeless people don’t need food and clothing and they don’t need stuff people give them. He said that people do this so the giver can feel good about him or her self. The person, this friend, well, he is practically homeless so I didn’t expect to hear this from him. I said… “You missed the point. This is to bring awareness to people who don’t see homeless people as humans but as a blight of humanity—something that hurts their city, etc.”

 

I became very vocal to him because of other things he said. Listen up! I don’t help other people because it makes me feel good. I help others because they need help. Sometimes I do feel good that I have done something to help another but that’s an intrinsic thought and it’s my own pat on the back that I did right…I did what I am called to do…being a caretaker and giver. We are all supposed to do this, to care for others. We should not boast about our deeds but I think feeling complete…as in we have been successful reaching goals is a good thing. It helps us to continue on that path. If we just do one thing and that’s it, no, that’s not what it is about. But, also, we can’t judge others either. I can’t tell you what to do and not do. I just do what I can and keep doing it. We don’t do things because people deserve something. We should do things because people need us and in turn we all help each other.

 

It’s true that all of the problems with homelessness are not going to be solved with this one video or a few people but one of the big problems is there are those who do not see homeless people. They are ignored…like they don’t exist. My daughter said, “But they do need those clothes and food and shelter and such until they can get back on their feet or if they can’t get back into society they still need these resources.” My children are very smart. 🙂

 

This friend said that homeless people need work…jobs…help in getting jobs and resources to become presentable. He found fault with the video and my stance of how we should help. I can be wrong. It’s hard to accept being wrong but I can be wrong…but I’m not wrong…not this time 🙂 . I can choose to back down, shrink into a corner or I can choose to be vocal. I’m being vocal. I don’t want to hurt anyone but we have to reach out to people. I’m not saying to put yourself at risk but be more aware of what is around. Appreciate people more. Smile. Become passionate about life and let it infect others. Don’t let people hurt you with words. Don’t let the negativity in this world tear you down. Find a way to help others. If we only helped as much as we criticize…sigh…

 

I’ve studied people. Observing, watching. We like what makes us feel good and that isn’t a really bad thing. There is so much hatred in the world. Isn’t it time we remove the hate? 🙂