Contributing Love Or Hate

In light of the political fog and chaos surrounding us today, it's easy to get angry about a lot of the things that are going on in the world. There are a lot of people out there who are passionately dedicated to slandering others, making false accusations, hurting others, and to promoting division and fear between people.

But none of that appeals to me.

Living in fear of others because of things like the color of their skin, their gender, what country they come from, or their religion, doesn't appeal to me. The most basic tenant of law is the concept of being innocent until proven guilty, and no doubt every single one of us wants to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Fearful thoughts bring with them the thought of punishment, and so the natural progress of fear is to want to infringe upon the rights of others. And I don't think it's logical or reasonable to limit and infringe upon the rights of others because of some event our imagination has conjured up, because of crimes committed by some other person, or because of some theory held that's predominantly rooted in personal conjecture.

Hate tears people down and it is a destructive force.

If you are under the impression that the world is going to be any better off, or if your life will be better off, if you choose to dedicate your time and resources to contributing more hatred to the world, then I urge you to reconsider. The world already has enough negativity and hatred, why would you want your personal contribution to simply be adding more?

It doesn't take any creativity, intelligence, courage, or strength, to live in fear of others or to try and bring others down around you.

We are all victims of the state. And I can easily grow tired thinking of the violence that's been inflicted upon this world for thousands of years, rooted upon the premise that some small percentage of the human population should be exempt from morality and therefore permitted to commit crimes against others that you and I are prevented and criminalized from committing. Because so many live in fear of others around them, they cling to this idea that known robbers and murderers will effectively keep them safe and protect them from possible unknown and potential robbers/murderers. By that logic, they propose that we take poison in order to protect ourselves against the chances of one day ingesting even stronger poison.

Fear can be exploited and can be used to easily manipulate.

Fear fuels snap judgments and certainly when we make those impulse judgments, they aren't going to be without their inaccuracies. Fear can fuel emotional judgments that are void of logic and sound evidence. In other words, fear makes us fools.

There isn't much that I can do about a lot of the violence that goes on around the world today. And focusing too much time on what I cannot change is only going to be a waste of my time. Instead, I can choose, wherever I am, to try and be a positive force in other people's lives, and therefore the world, rather than a negative one. I can choose to do good. We all can. And I don't think it would hurt for the world to have a few more people who were dedicated to simply doing good.

I have seen violence fuel nothing but even more violence; the cycle is nothing new. Too many lives have already been lost because of a philosophy that's held by too many, where people believe they have the right to hurt others because of their own fears or because they think that they know best.

I choose to be on the side of love and peace.

Pics:
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ProLibertate