Life // Death // Politics

What if we’re the problem? What if we’re too ignorant to stop just voting for a party affiliation? What if the partisan divide is because those in power think we are too stupid to think for ourselves? So instead we have democrats afraid to lose their voter base by standing up against abortion. Instead, we have republicans afraid to lose their voter base by standing for gun control. Instead, we have people dying every day because reelection and politics are more important than people. We have a broken two party system more interesting in keeping in power than giving that power to the people. But what if change doesn’t happen from the top down? What if we don’t wait for the big wigs in Washington to deem our problems worth our money. Because after all, it is our money. They are our children. They are our people. We have an obligation to protecting their rights to life, liberty, and their pursuit of happiness. When did it become okay to infringe on that? 

Systemic change doesn’t just mean changing our laws. It’s changing the way we treat people and talk to people. It changes the narrative. It changes the justice system, the laws, the education system. It starts with educating the leaders of tomorrow on empathy. It’s prioritizing kindness over cursive. It’s teaching our children how to think and not just how to learn. It’s teaching our children how to access their feelings and deal with them in healthy ways. It’s teaching them that their feelings, rights, and words are just as valuable as those around them. 

Because we have to stop this us versus them mentality. We have to stop dehumanizing people who believe in the other side of the political spectrum or believe an ideology we do not agree with. We need to stop seeing the abstract “them” in arguments and start listening to how those around us think and feel. We need to begin to understand that in general, we all want the same things. We want the health, safety, and education of the next generation protected. We all want an end to violence and the propagation of love. We all want peace and equality. Perhaps our definitions are a little different and our opinions on getting there vary, but let’s talk about it. Instead of avoiding money, politics, and religion, what if we embrace them in constructive ways. What if we take back the power?