It is easy to sit back in our comfy chairs and couches and presume that we know the sum total of existence. It is easy to sit on the internet and alternatively believe and doubt everything that we see and hear regarding news, opinions, current events, people, co-workers, economics, politics, etc etc.
The truth of the matter, is like a certain fictional character, You Know Nothing! None of us really do, when get right down to it. You don't know the sum total of a person's life, experiences, knowledge, and feelings...so why behave as if you do. You'd right be offended if someone did it to you, so why do it to....EVERYONE else?
It's easy to say "They're taking our guns!", then sit back and say that the guns were never taken because "We told them so!". It's easy to make judgments about a person and feel justified when that person does not address your "concerns", usually because they may be so base and immature as to not warrant a response.
One may say "They're taking away my heritage!" over a piece of cloth, when at the same time we say "I don't want to press 1 for English when I may a phone call!". We believe some politician on the internet or TV when they say that the government is taking away freedoms...when that same person IS part of that same government. It's easy to sit back and say 'Jade Helm is taking over!', want a laugh....go check out a few military pages on Facebook that are making fun of the conspiracies. And don't get me started on the Bible thumpers of all varieties (Militant Atheists, I'm looking at you, too....you folks thump the badly interpreted King James worse than a Jehovah's Witness.)
It's essentially that our collective common sense has been UA (Unauthorized Absence) for decades now. Right along with our common decency. It's not "Black lives matter" or "Gay rights"....it's "Human lives matter" and "Human Rights"...we're all human, ffs. White, black, red, yellow, gay, straight, in the middle, confused, purple polka dotted....seriously. Get over the labels and definitions, even the ones we impose on ourselves.
Here's another clue: Most people vacillate between being Conservative and Liberal and exist in the gray areas in between overall. Personally speaking, I tend to be Conservative in areas of "family values" and overall government policy, but Liberal when it comes to Human Rights and gun rights. I'm also a Southerner by birth and raising that despises the Confederate flag, what it stood for, and all the people that put it everywhere and use it as a safety blankie the same way my son uses his Blue's Clues blanket.
It is easy to be this way when it's convenient...when it doesn't matter. We, as a society, refuse to give anyone the benefit of the doubt when at the same time, we DEMAND that same thing. We WANT someone to think the best of us as a people, whereas at the same time, we think, believe, and expect the worst out of everyone else.
Example: Starting a new job, perhaps the new guy that seems to know his stuff and shares what he knows is trying to benefit you...not threaten your position or be a know it all. Perhaps that girl standing off in the corner not saying much isn't a 'creeper', maybe she just doesn't know what to say or how to act.
Overall, we're too damn busy pointing fingers and not busy enough understanding that all we have in this life is how we treat our family and each other. It's easy in this "Modern", "Evolved" age...Post 9-11, where we are scared of the stranger around the corner because it's put in our face when, in truth, psychotics of all varieties have existed as long as there have been humans...it's nothing new. Just ask London how it's like to get randomly bombed the shit out of...the difference? Well, they banded together instead of nearly turning on each other.
We're all human beings on this damn rock, ad we all have the same choice: We can make life easier for each other and our children, our children's children, and each other....or we can continue to make it worse.
