I don’t need to remind Americans what day it is—even those who aren’t old enough to remember have seen it play out on television hundreds of time. For those old enough, we don’t need a television, and for those who called New York or Washington DC home, the losses weren’t just tragic, they were personal.
I was born and raised on Long Island, in the shadow of the buildings that fell that clear blue morning. I “buried” several friends, although only one partial jaw bone was ever recovered. I devoured countless documentaries and conspiracy theory videos, searching for the why in all of this—why my state, my people, my home. I still search to this day.
Across the country, another place I called home is engulfed by flames. Twenty-three people dead and those numbers will rise. The entire west coast is burning, along with much of the western United States.
Then came the news that an indie author had taken her own life. A victim of bullying, a trend growing daily in popularity. A disease that, in my medical opinion, is as deadly as cancer, and just as tenacious. A disease that certain people create and foster, only to sit back with delicious glee at the havoc they wreaked.
Need I continue? Don’t get me started on the political pandering and mud-slinging, which has reached epic proportions in recent years. Throw in a global pandemic that many deny the existence of, and you’ve got a pretty good summation of 2020.
I don’t know about you, but I’m so tired. 𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒍 𝑻𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅. We don’t have to agree, but can’t we utilize basic manners and decency towards each other? Have we ever stopped to consider that the username (in most cases, bot people) is attached to a person? A person with feelings and fears, a person who does indeed feel the effects of cruel comments and name-calling?
This computer screen has made folks brazen, with little fear of repercussion. I’m appealing to everyone’s basic humanity today. Be kind. People are hurting. Suffering. They don’t need strangers adding to the list of tragedies already in action. If you can’t be kind (which makes me wonder about you), then can you at least be mindful of your words and actions?
If our toxic energy has brought about this much damage, what might happen if we focused our energy on kindness towards one another? Today, and every day, I send out love, because that is one commodity in desperately short supply.
Be love.