No compassion in the wild

Two parents are fighting bitterly, a child weeps. After years of sharp discord, the child becomes reckless.

Do we become angry at the child for being weak, responding ineffectively, or hurting themselves?

Why would we further strike down the wronged? Would we yell at them for showing emotion?

Clinton was wrong for manipulating governance to her advantage. “She was just playing the game, well…that’s just politics”.

Trump was wrong for what he said about women, Muslims, and other minority groups. "He said it to win, to dominate the media.”

In the end, it was wrong. So very wrong. We all feel that now.

The media amplified these weaknesses like any good storytellers, to the most dramatic end.

If the world was fair, they (and the media) would both apologize for what they did wrong. They would acknowledge the political trauma they caused, and media’s departure from journalism in a very transparent and accessible way.

This isn’t happening.

Instead, its like we have parents who are acting like nothing happened. “Oh, here is this peaceful transition of power….move along people”.

Straight up ya’ll. We are the losers here. We are the abused children. All of us. Both sides. Now the progressives know how conservatives felt in 08’/12’. When you know someones pain, shouldn’t it make it easier to have compassion

Abusive governance was already on the rise, on both sides.

We can make this better. We know it.

But first we have to listen. We have to hear the pain. Its hard, but the Facebook posts, tweets, protests, and other outpourings are outlets of pain for a directly affected group of people.

To not listen would be the greatest tragedy of all.

We need compassion, right now. Lots of it.

Compassion doesn’t call for hate, anger, or violence.

Compassion calls upon us to listen to those who were wronged, understand, accept, and then roll up our sleeves and do the work to make things right.

Listen, more.

On a personal note, I commit my life to this work. I am committed to fighting nationalistic, racist, sexist, and anti-immigrant viewpoints and policies alike. I am committed to fighting narrow views of God. I am committed to fighting gender roles and stereotypes. And now I have reason to work harder than ever.

Let’s listen, let’s learn, lets get to work.

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