Category: Kindness

I have had a hard time trying to put into words what to tell my kids regarding my feelings towards this election and last nights results. This election was so ugly and it brought out the worst in people around me. I believe many people voted out of fear and anger. Many people felt and expressed that they were voting for “the lesser of two evils.” Neither of the two candidates were my top choice for president. However, the language used by one of the candidates was so exclusive that it really hit home.

Truthfully, I’m uneasy and worried about the future that will be the space in which my children try to achieve their goals and live out their dreams. I worry that people I love and care about are worried about their right to love the people they love and care about. I’m concerned that there will be people who can’t afford healthcare for themselves and their children because I believe that people have the right to healthcare just because they’re human. I worry about the cost of what it will take for two of my children to get the college education that I also believe is their right, every child’s right. I worry about the tone of tolerance that has been set by someone who is one of the biggest role models to children. I am a mother to a child that doesn’t fit in any box and in many people’s eyes would be considered a “liability.” I worry about women’s health as I am the mother of a daughter. I cringe knowing that my daughter may years from now need a medical procedure that her and doctor decide is best for her and it’s not an option that is easily accessible or carries some crown of shame.

I am no stranger to worry in my life. I  am a worrier. Throughout all that worry, I’ve found that sometimes, people surprise you. I am hoping that is what this new president does…surprises me.

I would like to believe that the cruel words he spoke throughout this election process and the disrepect he demonstrated towards women, minorities, and people with disabilities is not the place from which he will govern from. I hope that he surrounds himself with people who make him a better version of himself and allow him to work through the insecurities that fuel his arrogance.

I am choosing to believe that the people all around me who spew hateful, inconsiderate, unthoughtful words composed into sentences in the name of freedom of expression do so out of ignorance. I will choose to believe that the cycle can be broken because I am proof. I was raised to believe I was better than others because of the color of my skin and that there were certain things I shouldn’t aspire to because I am female. I in turn chose to raise tolerant, kind, open-minded individual thinkers who know that everyone is equal and should be treated accordingly. They don’t have to be reminded because it’s just innate.

I’m not sure who wrote this essay but I came across it and it’s either reassurance that you are doing it right or representation of what you should be doing as parents.

I will continue to teach them to love their neighbor, to celebrate our diversity and do what is right, even if it’s unpopular or uncool.

I will teach them that love has no boundaries and comes in all shapes, sizes, colors and creed.

I will teach them that fear and hatred has no place in their lives.

I will teach my daughter to know no boundaries. That she is not defined by her gender but by the content of her character.

I will teach my sons that women are to be respected. In all situations at all times.

I will continue to lead by example and when I fail, I fail them, too.

I will continue to live my life of love and acceptance for all people.”

I hope that now that we are finished electing a new president, we can begin electing to be kinder to one another.

Today was a day where the judgement of others was free flowing and by evening had reached maximum capacity. I had one of those moments where I just stopped and became genuinely overwhelmed by the fact I am raising my children in a society full of people that seem to bring attention to what they “hate” instead of promoting the things that bring them happiness. Insert brief moment where I begin to narrow down my thought…now, cue the realization that it’s not an entire society, it’s just a small, conservative town in the south. It is a place where I have lived less than 10 years of my adult life but also the place my three children consider “home.” I rationalize with myself on a weekly basis that bigots are everywhere. Then I allow myself to believe the truth, there is a concentrated population existing in my general vicinity.

Hear me when I say it is not hard to raise tolerant individuals. It goes a little something like this…from a very early age you teach children to be kind and accepting. The end. The problem is children are sponges and they are soaking up the “hate” from the adults around them. Those adults probably soaked it up as children from the adults around them.

Intolerance has become rampant. People excuse others intolerant behavior on a daily basis and they are rationalizing their “hate” using every excuse from ignorance to religion. Ignorance can only be remedied through education. Children are learning how to read, add and subtract, the state capitals and the periodic table but somehow so many are missing the important lesson of empathy. No one is teaching them to understand where another person is coming from and how to treat the concerns of others the way they would treat their own. On the religious front, I’m pretty sure Jesus would be disappointed in the amount of “hate” being spread around in his name. If I remember my lessons from Sunday school correctly, Jesus gave one and only one commandment. Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another. Maybe this explains why I have a hard time weeding through them myself. It’s hard to see the LOVE through all the HATE.

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. ~ Nelson Mandela