It seems in today’s media centric world everyone has an opinion and is overly eager to share it (yes I am aware that I am indeed one of those people). As I scroll through the news feeds of my various social networks I notice people taking sides on issues and voicing their opinions with little to no thought of the other side. It seems we’ve ditched empathy and compassion completely for the new more exciting traits like passion and feistiness.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for having an opinion and taking a stand but what I would like to address is one stance in particular that I have seen over and over again. Lately, I’ve seen statuses that read like this:
“Why are people more concerned with the stupid lion that was killed and not the brave soldiers that were killed in Chattanooga? Our world is becoming an ignorant place!”
Or this….
“Let’s worry a little less about the religious views of other countries and a little more about the homeless in our own country. Come on people!”
Now let me preface this post with saying, if you are a person who has typed one of these statuses, and I know there are a lot of you because I've seen many a Facebook fight and trending hashtags on twitter that seem to be stirring up conflict, I am most definitely not trying to call you out personally as I have seen this time and time again. I would like simply for us all to look at our world in a different lens.
So let me be really blunt with you, I as a human being am capable of caring about more than one issue at a time. And guess what? You are too!
Just because I love animals and am extremely angry that Cecil the Lion was killed does not mean that I am automatically against the United States and wish to promote domestic terrorism. Similarly, just because I am concerned with how Iran’s government works with the religion of Islam doesn't mean I have not a care in the world for the plethora of people homeless in America. I’m capable to caring about all these issues and in fact I care about them all deeply. I’m an avid supporter for animal rights and I’m proud to be an American. I’m interested in foreign policy but also care about those less fortunate.
Now get ready for the ground break epiphany…
Firstly,
We don’t have to pick a side! We as human beings are capable of complex thought and because of that we are able to feel compassion towards two things at the same time. If you want to care about more than one thing, no one is stopping you! In fact, we need more people in the world who are willing to become educated and voice their opinions on the many injustices in the world. I would even venture to say that in order to be a contributing member of society you should have to be passionate about more than one issue.
Secondly,
So maybe you don’t care about Cecil the lion or about the religious views of another country, but who are you to say what is more important? I’m sure the people in Israel care a lot about the religious views of other countries because that could mean life or death for them. Similarly, I’m sure the animal rights activists that have devoted their lives to be a voice for the voiceless care a lot about Cecil. Just because one event doesn’t impact you does not mean it may or may not impact another person.
So the next time you’re planning on posting on Facebook or Twitter or wherever you might want to voice your opinion, think for a moment and really consider all sides of the issue and how you personally feel. If we can stop ranking issues in an order of importance and start making them all of equal importance maybe we could make some real changes.
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