On the Idea That Love is all you Need

This past weekend I attended a work related trip to California, and I decided to write a piece on the violence and hate that has dominated our media and news outlets as of late. As always, I felt it of vital importance to write while the topic at hand was still relevant and had substance. So much had transpired; from Orlando to Turkey to police shootings to Nice, France. On one of these perfect California nights my colleagues decided to visit LA, so I thought it would be a perfect time to put thoughts to paper. And it was. So, there I was. Writing in a dark and empty hotel room listening to the Disneyland fireworks pop a few blocks away. The words flowing just like I wanted them to. Then: Fuck! My computer decides to restart for updates just as I was concluding the post because writing it once was far too easy. :rolls eyes: People talk about that all the time. Trust me. I’m a teacher, and I’ve heard that excuse on far too many occasions. Every student presents that excuse at least once throughout their High School career. “Sir, I was typing, and my computer died! Can I turn it in tomorrow?” They utter it, I call bullshit, we move on. But no, it’s a real thing. I’m telling you. I was a victim of it too. :Sadness Ensues: Fucking computer. Anyhow, as it turns out the fact that I can rewrite this now and it still be relevant is a testament to the point I was trying to originally make. Two days later three cops were shot in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I mean, really? I’ll rewrite to the post as well as my mind will remember it, but damn did it reinforce my thoughts and make me think: “Shit. This issue may be worse than I thought.”

Original Post:

A not so popular thought: On the Idea that Love is all you Need:

            Turn on your television, reload your Twitter, refresh your FaceBook. Go ahead. I’ll give you time……

It is not a revelation? Right there in front of that screen. It’s as clear and uncensored of an image of the human race you’ll ever set your eyes upon. It’s life moving in the form of random thoughts, actions, words, check-ins, shares, and hashtags. It’s an ever evolving anthology of our history, our present, and the seemingly grim and dystopian future in which we’re piloting this race. Those social media posts you see on a minute to minute basis; the news, friends, entertainment. That is who we are. It’s a blueprint to our hearts and minds. Our ideas and beliefs. Our actions. Our morality. Sparknotes: The Core of the Human Race, if you will. And just now, as I wrote that, I felt a complete sense of dis-ease. An eerie unpleasantness. Did you feel it? No? Get back online and look again. Yes? Then you surely felt what I felt. As Tyler Durden said: “It’s all going down, man.” Fuck, that should be the official slogan of the human race. That is, of course, until it all finally does “go down.” Then what will we have?

All individuals are divided. We stand as a yin yang of love and hate. The two most powerful emotions possessed by people. How we decide to balance these two emotions is a clear indicator of the future that awaits us; a future of a people whose every thoughts and actions are showcased in media, news, entertainment, and social networking sites. I turn on my TV to watch the news: violence escalating. I refresh my social networking sites: hateful comments from hateful people breeding hate from otherwise rational people leading to further hate. Wow. Isn’t that something to take in? Hate: a virus consuming every ounce of love our race struggles to grasp with its weak and fragile fingers. If the news and internet present what transpires in society, and social media sites are where we lay our emotions, actions, and thoughts for the world to see, what does that say about us and who we are at the core? What we want? What we like and dislike? And more importantly: what we feel?

All we Have is Hate, Hate. Hate is all we Have:

            History and present are the only indicators we have in the context of placing people under a microscope in order to come to clear conclusion to just what kind of specie we are as a whole.

            A journey through a history of Hate and Violence:

1. The Crusades                                                  
2. The Holocaust                                                 
3. ISIS                                                                
4. Al Qaeda                                                        
5.  The American Civil War                                  
6. WWI                                                              
7. WWII                                                             
8. Events in the Roman Coliseum                         
9. Slavery throughout                                          
10. Segregation                                                    
11. Europe Colonizes America                             
12. The Mongol Conquest of the 13^th Century
13. Greece at constant war
14. Murder of people who preach peace (MLK)
15. Dragging death of James Byrd
16. 1963 Baptist Church Bombing
17. The KKK
18. Human sacrifice
19. Gang Violence
20. Pol Pot’s Revolution
21. Elitism
22. Fighting Violence with violence
23. Glorifying of conquers

The list can go on and on. Hate, violence, and death seem to overflow out history books. Could there be any explanation as to why we don’t learn from mistakes made? We’ve been violent, greedy, and hateful from the dawn of time. Is it who we are? Will our generation just add a few more pages to the blood-filled history text books and assigned readings for our high school students? Death tolls towered in history as we used arrows and spears and swords to carry out hateful ideologies. Now we possess weapons that can the job at much more catastrophic proportions. If our hate remains and our weapons evolve to become more potent then only one question remains: Will we crumble beneath our hate until nothing is left?

A Harsh Reality: What we Really Need:

These past few weeks have been devastating to say the least: the gay bar shooting, the targeting of African Americans by cops, the Dallas police tragedy, Nice, France, Turkey, and Baton Rouge. It seems that just as one event begins sinking in another one befalls us. No space to digest. No space to think. No space to dialogue. No space to mourn; just one event after another like clockwork. Now, this may be a bleak and crude question, but: Why do we feel utterly compelled to fabricate ideas in vain attempts to feel in control and a slight uncomfortable comfort?  It’s time that we crumble and discard the notion that love is this unstoppable force of nature that possesses the ability to remedy every single disease. A tragedy occurs; people scramble briskly to social media and post peace quotes, “#prayforwhoever,” filter their profile picture to a rainbow for sexual rights or the French flag for the truck plowing calamity, blah, blah, blah. Politicians make statements urging the public that we take action and place limitations on guns as well as prevent radicalism so that events like this never ever repeat themselves. Umm, okay. Are these people hippie idealist, or have they never read a history book in their lives? All of this, “The illusion of safety,” as Tyler would say… Damn, that guy knew his shit. But we listen to them! We dare to hope for a better tomorrow. A tomorrow that will bring love to the forefront. A tomorrow where we can all live happily ever after. Then another tragedy. Then another. When will we realize that our lives aren’t a fairy tale? Things won’t change. Ever. Hate is driven by difference or that which we don’t understand. And difference will Always Exist; Women and men, gay and straight, black, white, Asian, Hispanic. We are a race of contrasts and distinctness. We are separated by sex, race, location, economic status, appearance, ideologies, morality, likes and dislikes. Every individual on this planet is different in immeasurable ways, and this is something we should treasure and value as a people. It is what makes our race so beautiful and sublime: Difference, Uniqueness, Diversity, yet rather than treasure it as what makes us great it is the tool we use to breed hate and insight violence. What. A. Damn. Shame. Perhaps it is all just a big tragedy.

A Glimmer of Hope:

            We are who we are. The history books have told us what we’ve been and we’re experiencing what we are. Sadly, not much has changed. A face in front of a mirror that has remained the same through history. A face most don’t like, yet the face we are. We can cover it in make up all we want, but that face is still the same underneath. We can’t fight who we are. We need to accept that we are hateful and violent. We need to stop being “shocked” at terrorism and gun violence as if it’s a rare occurrence. Is it a bottomless tragedy? Of course it is, but the measures taken to mend the issues are, excuse my elevated vocabulary: STUPID!!! Violence to fix violence. An eye for an eye. Cops kill African Americans, African Americans kill cops, Muslim extremist bomb America, American Bombs Muslim extremist, Trump spills hate filled rhetoric towards Mexicans, Mexicans retaliate with hate filled actions at Trump rallies. I mean, jeez. Take a look around. The only hope we have is to undergo a complete cultural change. One that digs deep into our core, our thoughts, and our ideas. Hate is something laws won’t change, riots won’t change, and violence won’t change. Education and time are our only hope. Hate is something that is taught and it is something that can be unlearned, but we need to be open and intentional about wanting change. We need to be open to the idea that people are different. That not everyone thinks like we think, likes what we like, and hates what we hate. We need to be open and accepting to the beauty of our uniqueness and not try to shape the world into what we as individuals want it to be. Let us be the white light before it hits the prism: together, but let us also be like the rainbow of broken down colors that follows after traveling through the prism: different, unique, and beautiful while still harmoniously together. Let’s dare to hope in a better tomorrow, yes, but even preferable, let’s dare to be willing to be a part of the change we so deeply need. Let’s be willing to change our mentality for a future we probably won’t see firsthand. Let us be the page in future history books entitled: The Time The World Finally Began to Change.