Hi everyone!
This is tough.
There was a horrible mass shooting in New Zealand. Early reports are that 4 people shot at 2 Mosques killing 40 people and injuring another 20.
The thing is, we all have our part to play in these tragedies.
We click on all the links, we talk about it, we argue with people on the internet... and we're all so sure we know right from wrong. We all know that shooting un-armed people is wrong... but something made these 4 people think it was right... they believed it was so right, that they were willing to commit an act so horrendous that they could never be forgiven.
How did they get there?
I think they got there because we all allow ourselves to be polarized... to take sides. It's in our news, it's in our stories... these people are right and these people are wrong. Everything is a conflict. Every story needs a conflict, and a resolution to even make it a story.
The thing is... nobody knows anything.
There are so many variables to every single situation, and we all pick and choose the points we hold dear and the points we oppose... because it's simpler... and because we're used to boiling everything down to right and wrong.
I honestly do think that if we all just accepted that we don't know anything, and that there are variables we don't understand... that tragedies like this would lessen. Not extinguish entirely, because there will always be cowards who resort to violence to make their point... but if we didn't let ourselves get so polarized, allow ourselves to believe one thing is so absolutely right and another thing is so absolutely wrong, and instead accept that maybe there are things we don't understand about the situation, and that it might be more complex than we realize, then maybe far less people would end up believing something so strongly that they're willing to kill for it.
Be brave enough to admit you don't know everything about a situation, and that your opinion is only based on a limited amount of information/opinion.
Be compassionate to those different to you, or hold different viewpoints to you. They're not stupid, they're just basing their opinions also on a limited amount of information/opinion.
At the end of the day, the vast majority of people really just want to survive, to love and to feel safe.
Thanks for watching!
