A Reminder to be Compassionate

Hello readers, I hope 2017 has been treating you well, or as well as possible considering the state of things in our world right now. While I typically do not write about political matters, tonight I felt especially inspired to speak about Trump's impending Muslim Ban. If you aren't aware of what is going on in the United States right now, I urge you to search up the hashtag #MuslimBan and see just what has happened in the past 36 hours in our country ( or maybe not your country because some of you lovely people are from other places). Anyways, in an effort to stay positive I want this post to be about compassion and empathy-- some words I feel like are extremely important at this moment in time. Whatever your political affiliations may be, I hope you can still recognize when things have gone to far. If you aren't angry or frustrated or saddened by the things going on right now, I want you to take a step back. Let go of all of your pre-existing ideas about races different than your own and just think: what if it were my friend? my brother? my sister? my daughter? my son? or my spouse? Wouldn't you be upset getting on the internet everyday or turning on your tv to watch the news and hearing/seeing people spew racist rhetoric day in and day out about you, your religion, and your racial/ethnic group as a whole? Imagine getting the news today that you are no longer welcome in a country you love because of the God you worship. Wouldn't that hurt you? You see the thing is this ban does not affect me and yet as I am typing this I am brought to tears thinking of my beautiful brown friends who are now afraid for their families and friends. I fear the America we love and cherish is slowly turning into something dark and scary. A place where women, minorities, and LGBTQ citizens are once again becoming pariahs. But, I have hope. One thing I will forever love about being American is that we are so very resilient. In the face of injustice and discrimination, the majority have united together to ensure that this country will not be divided by a government that is pushing the policies of a man who ran, and won, the presidency on a platform of bigotry, racism, and misogyny. To those of you who may have voted for him, all I ask is that you find it in your heart to be kind. When you find yourself wanting to say something negative, discouraging, or divisive, please remember that these are our people. They are our citizens. They belong here as much as anyone else. And while you may not like it, they deserve love and every freedom allowed to you. To everyone, I pray that you find peace amongst the chaos, find love where there is hate, find unity where there is division, find empathy where there is apathy, find compassion where there is animosity, and find hope where there is fear.


I hope you all are having a wonderful morning, afternoon, or night, whenever you happen to be reading this. I appreciate your page views so much.

- Cameron