1 World – 1 Race – 1 Future
Let me state one thing right up front – “I DETEST PREJUDICE” and I want to call it that because that’s what it is. Racist and Racism are words we need to get rid of because they are misleading and inaccurate. We might be of many ethnicities and cultural histories, but we’re not from different bloody races because there’s just the one – The Human Race, so let’s please call it prejudice.
The truth about prejudice is that it comes in many forms, it’s not just about skin colours, although that is quite rightly high in the world agenda at the minute.
Prejudice exists within almost every community on the planet, in every country, in every city, in every town, in every village and, no doubt, inside you too in some form or another!
But we need to address it and reduce it with the ultimate goal to remove it altogether, and it needs every single one of us to do that.
I would just like to throw out a word of caution about the organisations that front these quasi-political movements. Before you wholeheartedly and with good intentions sign up to and promote them, make sure you know everything that they stand for and that you agree with it all, not just the bit that’s grabbing the headlines for them at the moment.
There are many aims of such organisations, and, should you delve deep enough in the small print, you might be a little surprised and shocked at what may lay at the foundations.
We as a world need to knock prejudice and its ugly face on the head (metaphorically speaking) and replace it with genuine care, consideration, understanding, empathy, and love, not with major political upheaval, instructions about what we can sing, read or say. Not with someone else deciding arbitrarily what statues can stay and which need to be violently pulled to the ground!
How long before somebody suggests a few books that should be burned, because that is where some of this radical crap is heading, all under the guise of something decent – reduced prejudice and a fair (as is possible) world for all.
Let’s be honest with ourselves, there are songs you sing and like that have less than perfect lyrics in them, maybe about hurt or revenge, drug use or natural justice (which is not the justice a society offers up), and maybe, just maybe, there are songs you love that you don’t even know the words too and so have no clue what they’re about… Does that mean they should be banned?
I think the current groundswell under the ‘Black Lives Matter’ slogan is excellent, and I hope it makes a mark that lasts for the betterment of all of us. But just approach all banners to stand under with an open heart for change and a little curiosity about ‘all’ the real aims of the organisation you are mentally and/or physically aligning yourself with to make sure that you fully agree.
The future is not set, the present is our choice and everything that is history cannot be changed. I cannot apologise for something one of my forebears did, as it would just be a meaningless platitude, as I am not them, I did no know them, and I should not be expected to speak for them.
That said, I have no doubt that we could go to any country in the world and find historical elements that people would feel ashamed of today. Should we then try to use that as I blunt tool with which to hit them about the head until they submit to what we want today – no, not at all!
The vast majority of us Know better than that, and those few that don’t will always exist on the extremes of both the right and the left, but just like everything else on this planet, the most successful path is finding the balance between the extremes.
In life, the balance can generally be found with these tools:
Common sense
Reason
Consideration
Care
Empathy
Patience
Fairness
Love
Determination
Listening
Asking the right questions
So, make sure you use those tool, not only in the way you treat others and yourself, but in how you investigate any banner you’re about to ‘march’ under and make sure there’s nothing shocking in the small-print!
For all those people out there that are keeping the water flowing, the lights on, the internet going, the food and goods available, the streets safe and those that are ill cared for, you have my admiration and my sincere thanks.
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Best wishes
Iain Merchant
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