As I was on Facebook earlier, The Christian Left Facebook page had posted about the two commandments that Christ left Christians with- love your neighbor and love God. As they pointed out, pretty simple, right? But, if it is so simple, why aren’t we doing that? And it’s not just Christians, but it’s all of us regardless of faith or religion or whatever you want to call it. We are simply refusing to be for our fellow man as much as we used to be.
Your character shows in how you treat those who can do nothing for you.
There was a common theme among some of the posters that replied to that status message; it was one of the reasons why people are having such a hard time loving one another. The theme stated, quite simply, that we don’t know how to love ourselves. And they are right.
We live in a world where we are constantly marketed to, based on our monetary and physical merits, and that we have to have these certain merits to have any worth whatsoever. And we have had it indoctrinated so heavily into us, it carries over in how we treat others.
Girls are force-fed images of women who are flawlessly beautiful and they end up pushing themselves to exercise, not for health, but for beauty. They go on these extreme diets to make themselves look thinner, and they end up making themselves sick and having health problems for the rest of their lives because of it.
Boys are force fed images of men who are chiseled and lean, and end up trying to take poisonous drugs to make themselves bigger and buffer.
Minimum wage isn’t raised, even though it would help many others other than just fast food workers or retail workers.
And why do we as a society allow it? Where is the love and compassion for our fellow humans and other occupants of this world?
We don’t love or have compassion for ourselves.
If we don’t love ourselves and have compassion for ourselves, if we allow ourselves to be poisoned by this message that we have to have this and this and be that and that to be good enough, how are we supposed to see the state of others around us when we cannot look beyond the fun house mirror in front of us that just provides an illusion of how we look or who we are?
We, as humans, project qualities that we seek for ourselves on those we admire and we project the qualities that we are ashamed of on those that we view as lesser than ourselves and undeserving. That is the true problem within our society. It is not a lack of one religion or another, it is a poison that has infiltrated our lives in the form of consumerism, greed, and insecurity.
How do we change it?
- We reject this message that we are not good enough because of merits that are based on physical looks and finances.
- We try to help others without deciding whether they are good enough or not.
- We encourage each other, not tear each other down.
- We practice love.
A person’s religion does not matter, a person’s heritage does not matter- what does matter is that they are living, breathing viable and often in need of love and compassion. And that includes you as well as your fellow occupants! It has to start with you. You literally have to be the change you wish to see.
