The Choice not to Hate

Our thanks to guest writer Brigantia for sending us this thoughtful piece. 

Can you feel it? That we’ve been called to something? That we’ve been born in a time that allows us to live poised on the very brink of great global change?

I feel it in me. There’s something here that burns deep and golden. It’s a fire that I spread to anyone I can, from me to them, a gift of heat and passion. We were born in a time like no other. The technological, societal and environmental changes of the last century have shaped a world in which warriors are needed now more than ever! But warriors of a different kind. We need Earth Warriors, who speak with kindness, wielding respect as weapons against the old ways of hate, discrimination, greed and suffering. We are all capable of wielding these weapons. We are all armed with one particularly powerful weapon to our arsenal… And that is Choice. 

We all have choices to make.  We can choose hate. We can choose greed. We can choose separation and antagonism, ignorance and fear… Or we can choose respect. We can choose love, hope, inclusion, accessibility, equality, equity, acceptance and joy.  No matter what our upbringings, our abilities, our beliefs, our talents, our educations… Choice is something we all have freedom to use.  

Make your choices now.  Choose to smile at the parent who is at the end of their tether. Choose to say “stop” to the thugs harassing the same sex couple. Choose to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Muslim in fear of physical violence for simply walking outside wearing their niqab. Choose to say no to those who brandish ignorance and hate as a noxious gas, poisoning our hearts and minds, attempting to suffocate us, to bring us down to their bitter level.  

Make a choice. Right now. Choose to look around you at the acceptance, the equality that we’ve never seen on such a universal level before. Watch in wonder and awe as the Malalas, Gretas and others like them stand for what’s right and loudly proclaim your support and admiration of them all!  

You were born in a time like no other. The way you live, in even the simplest and most quiet of lives, can literally help to keep that change going, even in the face of new age nazis and Trump supporting communists.  Each little show of respect, each show of support, however small… These are the differences that make the big fights that much easier to win!  Please. Make a choice. Choose respect.

Choose one human race, with no walls.