We've all had those days. Those weeks. Sometimes even those years. You know, when everything just feels wrong. You feel like you're not in the right place at the right time and that everything seems to be working against you. The weight of the world gets a little heavier in these moments. The pain of living in this world is magnified and the worst part about it all is that you feel like you're facing it alone. We, as humans, hate to be alone. We need each other. We need to feel understood and wanted and loved. It is in these moments of soul-aching that we need these things the most, and yet most of us find ourselves utterly alone. Why are all of us so alone?
I think we've pushed each other away. I really do. I think we let the weight of this world seep into the spaces between us and we use things like differences on political views or religion or ideas on sexuality to put this comfortable little gap between us and the rest of humanity. In these past weeks, the world has held its breath as violence and hatred are spewed from all directions. We have let these events do exactly what they were designed to do. We let them take away our humanity. We let them further the gaps that were already so vast. We let them tell us that the people on the other side of the computer screens aren't actually people, just some thing that doesn't agree with you and isn't even worthy of being treated with respect and dignity. We hide behind Facebook and Twitter and rant and rave and continue the work that these devastating events started by so freely letting go of our ability to be loving and compassionate.
Haven't you had enough? Haven't you had enough of feeling alone? Haven't you had enough violence and hatred? At what point are we going to see that all we are doing is pushing each other away while the weight of this world wins? We need each other. We need different thoughts and opinions in our lives. There is something in this world that each of us has to offer, no matter our political views or religious view or whatever else we can argue about. Each and every person is needed and if we don't start acting like it, we are just going to continue this cycle as the entire Earth stretches its hands out to grab any last bit of hope or love left in this world. What if we sought to love and understand rather than convince others of how right we are? What would happen?
I can't tell you exactly what would happen, but I have a pretty good idea. We would still have problems. We would still have wars and poverty, different views and opinions. We would still have tragedy. But when those things occur, we would know that we have each other. And that makes all the difference in the world. We were never meant to shoulder this Earth on our own. Yes, we have our heavenly Father to carry it for us, and I am in no way downplaying His part in this. But I think a big part of His plan is for all of humanity to put down the weapons and close the gaps that we made between us. To look our fellow humans in the eye and say, "I am going to love you, even when I don't agree with you." When we lay down the pride of being right, we allow so much room for compassion and understanding.
Do not let this world rob you of your capacity to love. Do not let it take your humanity. Hold on to it with everything you have. Because when tragedy strikes and the world feels heavy again, all we have is each other.
