With events that have happened recently, I have wanted to stay off social media completely. Not because I don’t want to stay up to date with what's going on in people’s lives, or in the media, but because I know that all I will see is negativity and hate. People will always have different views on certain subjects, but everyone is still entitled to their own opinion. With everything bad that is happening in the world around us, bashing other people’s opinions isn’t helping anything; it just adds to the negativity.

With the deaths of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and the five officers from the Dallas Police Department, it is easy to see that we live in a divided nation. I was on Twitter and saw a tweet that said, “You: “A cop has died!” Me:” with a picture attached that listed the names of African-Americans that have been killed by white cops. I understand that both sides of the argument are grieving and fighting for what they think is right, but I think that we are all forgetting one important underlying fact: we are all people. Even though we all came from different backgrounds, have different skin tones, grew up in different social classes or walks in life, and believe in different religions, we are all still people. White or black, police officer or not, the individuals that tragically died left friends and family members behind, and left their communities shaken and afraid. No death is more important or more significant than another.

Even though I am white, I still empathize with the black community. There is no denying that throughout history and still today, they have been treated wrongly and with much disrespect. With that being said, I also empathize with The Criminal Justice System. A majority of cops are what people would categorize as “good” cops. They do what needs to be done in order to protect a community, help others when they are in need, and risk their life to save others. There is always an exception to this, but picking out the rare instances of police brutality doesn’t validate that all cops are the same. Saying that all cops are bad, all blacks are criminals, and all Muslims are terrorist, is like saying that all whites support the KKK. A select few people out of each group did terrible things, but that doesn’t account for everyone in that specific group. We need to recognize and focus on the good things that people from these groups have done, rather than publicizing the bad.

As a nation, we need to stop reacting to violence with more violence. If you disagree with someone's opinion, that's fine, but there is still a way to voice your thoughts on a subject without offending the other person. You may think that your argument is "better" or "makes more sense", but that shouldn't take away from the respect that everyone deserves to be treated with. We live in a culturally diverse country, but we shouldn't let those differences tear us apart.