Just like anyone else, I like to take naps when I need to. Today I took a nap and I dreamed. I’m sharing the dream because I think it has something we all can relate to. When we look at those who are different from us, what do we see?
It’s fine to see differences. It’s fine to see similarities. It is not okay to believe we are better than them. It is not okay to believe it is okay to hurt them in some way, shape, or form.
You know how your dreams sometimes have you in them and sometimes don’t? This dream had me as one of the main characters. There was a group of LGBTQ+ people I was with. The last character in the dream was a young woman. She was homophobic, but more ignorant than actually wanting to be hateful. She didn’t understand that the words she spoke were harming the LGBTQ+ crowd. The LGBTQ+ crowd got angry until their anger became rage. They attacked the young woman, tormenting her with words and actions. They had picked her up to carry her away. I screamed at them: “Stop tormenting her!” The LGBTQ+ group stopped and looked at me. And then, I woke up.
I’m still a little shaken from this dream. Who would have thought people could be so cruel? Sure, the young woman might have been saying things, but she didn’t understand what the words meant. If we want people to understand us, we need to communicate in a way that they will be able to understand us and then we can include them within our group.
Let’s not exclude people that don’t understand. Let’s try to include everyone.
I do not want to become like Hitler and the Nazis. They “did away” with people who spoke up, spoke out, actively worked against them, and even just breathed the air. If someone wasn’t who they wanted to live in this world, they “did away” a.k.a. killed them.
Let’s not be like that. Let’s be way better than that! Let’s do things like this.
If someone disagrees with us, let’s have a conversation so that we can both hear each other’s side. Let’s find out what makes each other “tick” and then see if maybe there is something there we can learn. Or maybe we can see from another side and still not like it, but we don’t have to go tormenting or killing others because they aren’t like us!
And for the love of Tinkerbell! Let’s live in this world so that we leave it better than we received it. Let’s leave it with faith, trust, pixie dust…and hope. Hope for a better tomorrow where we all can live together in peace. I’d like that kind of world a lot.
