mrwillpotter

I think it’s hard, in the divisive and tumultuous time in which we live, to engage in positive thinking, but many work on it day by day, and that gives me some hope.
Not that there is ever going to be a time when dark, harmful things don’t go on in the dark, behind closed doors, and in highly remote and protected places. Rather, it’s enough to know that, with all the darkness in the world, there is so much light to combat it. To act as a counter-balance.
However, it’s so important to remember how lucky I am. To live in this time. To live in this family. To live with this community. To live in this city. To live in this country. To live. To laugh. To love.
Pay attention to the clichés in your culture. Tropes and stereotypes are used as tools. Any tool can be used as a weapon, but tools were meant to be used constructively. I can engage in tropes and stereotypes to connect quickly and on a surface level with a broader community or perhaps a culture that I was not raised in but want to explore, discover and cure my ignorance.
That being said, once the surface level has been established, every culture goes deeper than tropes and stereotypes. Every culture has exceptions to the norms and unique outliers that push boundaries, appropriate other cultures, and even go directly against establishment traditions and values.
Pay attention to these fringe sects of the cultural zeitgeist. They are the ones that will connect your own culture with someone else’s. They are the ones that are on the frontier of what is possible.
Love each other. Put forth effort to share in understanding. Do not harm.
Protect the weak. Tear down structures that take advantage. Love each other.