It's Tough Being Human - but we all are, so let's just get on with being Human

Recent events astonish me. I don't know how people think. Or why they think the way they do. I consider myself open to discussion, debate and conversation. Where the evidence and argument are strong enough I am perfectly prepared to change my mind. I am not wedded to an idea simply because I think it. And thinking something is VERY different to knowing it.

I might not agree with people but I try to understand why they think the way they do and trust that they have attempted to see why others think differently. But when opinion is touted as fact and supported by further opinion rather than fact, that option disappears.

I fear for our present and our future where discourse is based solely on the idea that someone should be vilified, shunned and shamed for not thinking like someone else, just because someone else said it, no matter that there is no attempt at understanding; where monsters in power shut down those who would question them with lies that ,by repetition and bombast, become truths; where fear is something to be championed not eradicated; where respect is based on power and violence rather than honour and trust; where belief overpowers evidence; where humans spit on other humans because it makes them feel better or liken them to cockroaches who should be blown out of the water if they try to escape horrors visited on them by other humans; where children are shot in their classrooms by other children.

We have so much to be proud of; arts and science and sport, community, knowledge, friendship, exploration, adventure, passion, truth, joy, diversity, experience, love. And yet we are bombarded by the opposite with such regularity and force, questioned and mistrusted for requiring explanation and clarity that it becomes difficult to even raise the issues without being insulted or threatened.

There are so many options to change this, but it requires governments, rulers, politicians, public figures, personalities, celebrities, employers, employees, teachers, students to accept a complete shift in the judgemental state of being to which we have all become accustomed and in which we are educated and employed.
It takes acts of kindness and a soft touch; it takes listening rather than telling; it takes a desire to learn and to experience.

We are not weaker by refusing to have guns or calling for truth or being accountable and taking responsibility for how we live our lives. We are not wrong to call someone out when they do something wrong; complaining about noisy neighbours, reporting criminal activity; impeaching those in power for their lies and deceit. We are stronger through our understanding and our passion for knowledge and community, our openness and unity because of our experiences than we can ever be by shutting ourselves away behind walls built on fear and misunderstanding; selfishness and restriction.

It's a shame people can't see that. It's a shame we are required to be pigeon-holed from birth; you're black, you're white, you're sporty, you're a scientist, you like maths, you're gay, you're disabled, you're an actor, you're a factory worker, you're a man, you're a woman. We are all these things, but first we are human. And we need other humans in order to survive.