Checking in…
Hi Dear Reader.
It’s been a few weeks. I had to step away from things for a while. Now that I’m back, I wanted to check in with you and see how you are doing?
I want to pause from my normal post topics today and give some space for all of the absolutely turbulent things going on in the world right now. Perhaps it’s just me, but it feels like things are becoming increasingly violent and hostile. I’m not here to talk about how we got here or the specific issues themselves, but I do want to check in on my readers and see if you are taking care of yourselves.
We were never meant to be constantly bombarded with the kinds of information and news that we see today. Our brains are not wired to handle witnessing televised murders, terrorist attacks, bombings, and/or shootings in 30 second clips, before scrolling on to something else equally terrible. I worry about how desensitized people are getting to seeing things that only a few decades ago would be considered truly atrocious to witness.
“I’m rightly tired of the pain I hear and feel, boss. ... I’m tired of people bein ugly to each other. It feels like pieces of glass in my head. I’m tired of all the times I’ve wanted to help and couldn’t. I’m tired of bein in the dark. Mostly it’s the pain. There’s too much. If I could end it, I would. But I can’t.””
Maybe I’m the only one, but I feel like my heart is breaking with how much anger and vitriol I get bombarded with on the news or on social media each day. This group hates that group simply because of a difference of opinion. This group is calling for the extermination of this other group. In the last month I’ve seen footage of people getting shot in the streets execution style, a man get murdered in front of his children and wife and an entire stadium full of college kids; I’ve seen footage of riots and destruction, of people being abducted off the streets; I’ve seen videos of people calling for the murder of children simply because of the political or religious affiliation of their parents; I’ve seen footage of a lady wearing a shirt that says “Make America Kind Again” screaming in rage while she beat a cardboard construction of a political figure.
We are not ok as a society right now.
““I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
”So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.””
I don’t want these things to be normalized. I don’t want casual posts about political violence, or assassinations, or mass shootings or the celebration of someone’s demise to just be part of what I see on my daily feed. If social media wasn’t one of the main methods to connect to new readers and market my books, I don’t think I would be on it at all. Not because I want to be blind to all the things happening in the world, but because I’m frightened of the attitude most of society seems to have towards them.
What do we do? How do we change things?
“Saruman believes that it is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what I have found. I’ve found it is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love.”
I don’t know how we fix things. How do we turn away from so much anger and hate and move towards creating a gentler, kinder world? I wish I knew. Life is hard, and cruel. But that doesn’t mean we have to be. I don’t have all the answers. I can’t control what people say online, or what they post, or how they think. But. I do know that I have control over myself and my own actions. And I can choose to be kind. I can always choose to be kind. And hopefully I will leave those whose lives I touch just a little better for it.
Take care of yourself friends. Till next time, and every time, choose kindness.
<3 Tiff
