No Place for Hate

It's 9/11

None of our CBMS students were even born yet, but I am sure our staff all remember the tragic events that took place on this same morning, 19 years ago.  In a previous blog post last spring, I wrote about it being a defining day in my life.  One of those days where one will always remember what they were doing when tragedy struck.  

I don't want to dwell on the shocking events of that day, but what I do want to bring your attention to is that the events of 9/11 happened because of hate, because of intolerance, because of a lack of understanding, and because people couldn't accept differences in others.  Were there larger global and political issues that contributed to that day, sure, but from my non-professional political view, the roots of that day were anchored in intolerance.  

The subject bears examination because we are not immune from this hate...this intolerance...today.  It may be a different day, different time, different year, and different circumstances, but we are still battling each other today.  9/11 happened because religious and political ideals between cultural groups and peoples from different countries clashed.  After 9/11 happened, citizens from around the United States came together to support one another.  We were unified in our sorrow and in our hope for a better tomorrow.

Unfortunately, today, 19 years later, we are not that same unified nation.  In my humble opinion, we have become a nation more divided.  We are at times divided by that same hate and intolerance we denounced 19 years ago.  We have let our domestic (meaning within our own country) religious, political, and social differences rob us of the need for compassion, understanding, tolerance, and kindness.  Are we all going to believe the same things all of the time?  No.  Are we all going to agree on the same principals all of the time?  No.  Should we all be unified in our belief systems?  No.  That's not the value our country was founded upon.  

Our country was founded upon the idea of personal freedoms and acceptance of all.  Have we always done it right?  Nope.  Should that encourage us to be better moving forward?  Absolutely!  I believe that what we should be unified in our the ideals of kindness, respect, tolerance, understanding, compassion, and validation.  

We need to treat each other well and with kind words and actions even when we see differences in one another.  We need to respect the vast ideological opinions of others, and when we do clash ideologically we need to listen to each other, validate that we've heard each other, try to understand where the other person is coming from, and at times simply agree to disagree.  

Where we absolutely can't disagree is in the opinion that, as humans, we have a right to be safe from harm and treated equally.  I implore each and every one of you to wake up each morning with the goal of simply being a good person.  Speak kind words, share the load, listen to one another, treat the earth and all beings with compassion, and recognize that culture exists outside of our little spheres of reference.  Seek out others with different views, learn to carry out civil discourse (which is back and forth conversation where we learn from one another as opposed to getting only more entrenched in the idea that only our way is the right way).     

A more positive and just nation, and a more positive world, starts with just one person at a time.  Choose to start with you.  

When people talk about 9/11, they often say, "We will never forget."  For most, this means we will never forget the people who died, (which of course we shouldn't), but I would also hope that we remember how we came together that day, why it was necessary then, and is necessary still today.  

Be Well Everyone, 

Mrs. Hempey