As we all know, there have been some major events, tragedies and movements occur over this last year. People have been hurt in more ways than one, and some cast to the side. People have also had their voices heard through all of these events. This is what I would like to speak to today for a brief moment. I want to offer my advice on how we should be taking these events, how we should be viewing them, and what we should do with them. The absolute worst thing we could do is look at all that has happened over this last year and just leave the information behind.

In fact, today I would like to propose to you that we have a responsibility. This responsibility has actually always been in existence, but up until now we have been ignorant of that. After all of these events, we can no longer claim that, and it is time to be accountable. Many of us now are fully aware of the needs of many people around us, and lack of justice and equality in many cases. Many of us are now fully aware of misrepresentations of individuals and groups alike.

With all of this awareness and information, how could we morally or ethically claim that it is all right to simply sweep under the rug? If we do that, we are saying that we know these injustices are happening and we are perfectly fine with it. You may disagree, and you are allowed to, but I do not want that to be my claim.

So what does this responsibility actually mean? I’m glad you asked. I have split it up into two parts: Listen and Speak.

When I say listen, I do not mean to simply hear what reporters tell us or social media says. Please don’t mistake, those can be valuable sources and necessary tools, but when I say we need to listen, I mean that we need to dig deeper. It is important for us to go out, be active, and discover information for ourselves. WE MUST FACT CHECK. To listen means that we are genuinely invested and not simply present but not attentive. Let’s take it upon ourselves to go sit down with some group leaders from both sides of an issue, get the full story, and develop truths through that.

Not only is this a responsibility we have, but it can cause more healing and be more of a solution than anything else. A major concern of many groups and individuals is that their voices have not been heard. So why not listen? It does not mean that we have to change our minds about an issue, but it guarantees that it will give us more information and put us in a better position to make decisions than without it.

The second part to this responsibility is to speak. It is important that this comes after listening, so I beg that you do not reverse these. Once we have taken the time to hear what all sides are saying and have formed truths and found the needs of people, it would make no sense to store that up for ourselves and do nothing with it. This second layer of responsibility is to teach others. We can show others what we have found, and give us all a fair chance to make our judgements. However, I must point out that when we speak it should not be in an “end all” mindset. What I mean is that just because we have spoken does not mean the conversation and the research will be terminated. In our teaching, we need to provide others with our findings, and also show them how to gather their own findings. In this we can create a continual cycle of people listening to each other, and speaking up for each other, instead of bringing about more assumptions of reality.

Even though there have been some horribly tragic events over this last year, I still believe that there can be a significant amount of good that can come from it. If we allow it, it can open our eyes to realities of this life, and we will all be better able to make changes that can benefit all parties involved.

I want to make something clear before I close. I am not asking you today to change who you are, what your beliefs are or anything like that. I simply want to notify you, as well as myself, that we have a responsibility to consider our neighbors. Especially living within the United States with this claim of freedom. If that is going to continue to be our goal, then we must act in such a way to promote that. Continuing in ignorance only contradicts those freedoms. We should stand for their freedoms and rights just as much as we do our own.

This article is my personal step towards this. I know there are many out there who have already taken up this responsibility, and I applaud them. I am happy to join them in this pursuit. My question now is, what are you going to do?