Today's society.....

It's packed full of judgment, hate, lies and this completely outrageous idea of 'categorizing.'

The need to place everyone into categories based on the way they look, believe, live, act and feel. This categorizing... It is so out of hand...

"You're white so you're privileged."
"You're white so you're racist."
"You're black so you're a thug."
"You're black so you must riot and hate the police."
"You're a police officer so you hate black people."
"You're Hispanic so you're illegal."
"You're conservative so you love Donald Trump."
"You're liberal so you love Hilary Clinton."
"You don't have a father so you're not ever going to be anything."
"You live in the South, you're ignorant and love guns."
"You're a northerner so you're anti-guns."
"You're a Christian so you hate gay people."
"You're a Muslim so you're a terrorist."

Stop. It.

Stop it with these assumptions. Stop it with these categories. Stop it with these absolutely out of place judgments.

Each of the quotes above is spoken so often, much of the time over complete strangers.

If you don't know the person, then you obviously don't know what they believe. You don't know their story. You don't know where they came from. You don't know what their life is like. You do not know them.

When you don't know, don't pretend you do.

I'm fed up with the excessive categorizing. We take one look at a person and develop an opinion of them. We make up their entire life-story in our mind, instead of simply getting to know them. When someone doesn't look quite like us, we treat them differently. When someone holds varying beliefs than us, we cut them off and refuse to be their friend. How easy it would be to treat every color the same. How easy it would be to hear why that person you've made a judgment upon, believes the way they do.

Seriously people. What is wrong with us?

We're shut off. ALL of us. White. Black. Brown. Yellow. ALL of us.

We're shut off. Republicans. Democrats. Libertarians. ALL of us.

We're shut off. Christians. Atheists. Buddhists. Jews. Muslims. Hindu's. Non-religious. ALL of us.

We're shut off. American's in the South. North. West. And East. ALL of us.

There's no one of us better than the other, we're all shut off.

ALL of us.

The media pokes at the racism, it's something like entertainment to them. They encourage the deadly riots. They make up stories, which lead people to believe lies. They insist on telling us there are only certain categories of people who are discriminated against? Who are belittled? Who aren't treated fair? When the truth is, in each of these "categories," we are each being thrown into, there is mistreatment. There is discrimination. There is a misjudgment. It's happening in every race. It's happening in every religion. It's happening in every political belief. It's happening in every city. There is no evil greater than another, and we're all very guilty.

You are placing people into categories based on what the media tells you.

You're a Stereotyper.

Just because a person has white skin, does not mean they are 'privileged.' There are white people who are homeless, living in dangerous environments, don't have a father figure, had to work to support their family as a child, never got to go to college and have worked for everything they've ever had. There IS white privilege but for every white person, stop throwing every person with white skin into that category.

Just because a person has white skin doesn't mean they are racist. There are white people who adopt African American children, I know multiple families. There are white people who take in Hispanic foster children, my own family did. There are racist white people, but most are not stop throwing every person with white skin into that category.

Just because a person has black skin, doesn't mean they're a thug. There are black people with great wealth, talents and careers. There are black people who have worked hard and made a great life for themselves. There are black people who are police officers and those who appreciate what they do. Stop throwing every person with black skin into these categories.

Just because a person is a conservative, doesn't necessarily mean they love Trump and everything he does, love guns, want to throw out Hispanic illegals, etc. And just because a person is liberal, does not mean they like the Clintons, support abortion, want more government control, etc. Politics are to thank for much of the division in this country, so stop throwing every person into a political category.

Just because a person is a Christian, does not mean they hate you if you aren't one. Christian's are made to love as Christ did. While some do hate, most of us are filled with love and will be your friend even if you are not a Christian. We aren't going to condemn you to Hell, either. We don't all preach hate, so stop throwing us into that category.

I could go on and on and on...

But you should catch my drift by now.

Friends, it's just time to put an end to this ignorant form of categorization.

What would happen if instead of judging and hating and ignoring because of _____, we talked to people? What if we actually got to know them for who they were and listened to the experiences which have led them to believe what they do. What if instead of separating ourselves from people of different skin colors, we were all friends. What if instead of allowing political mindsets to fog our minds, we grew to accept the right everyone holds to believe differently.

What would life look like without these excessive categories?

What would happen if we moved past the little differences between us and didn't allow them to affect our judgments?

I suspect... There would be more love. There would be more peace. There would be more listening. There would be more friendships. There would be more uniting. There would be more kindness. There would be more talks. There would be more... more... GOOD.

And isn't that what each of us long for, more GOOD in this ugly world? It's not hard... Next time you throw someone into a category, step back and evaluate and ask yourself these 3 questions:

1). Do I know that person?

2). Have I listened to their side?

3). Would I want them to throw me into a category?

If you answer 'no' to any of the 3 questions, take them out of the category until you answer 'yes,' to all 3. It's as easy as that.

Let's be kinder. Let's love harder. Let's make more GOOD. After all, life is so much more than skin color and politics.