Over the past few weeks, I have seen several similar quotes in different places. I keep getting the feeling that history is repeating itself. I believe all of them are from Martin Luther King:
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.
Never forget that everything Hitler did was legal.
He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.
There’s a lot of talk in the press about violent video games, mass and school shootings and what to do about them, climate change, the #MeToo movement, DEI, and mass disenfranchisement of voters. I keep hearing these are political issues. I’m beginning to wonder if that’s true since these things keep happening to “everyday” people, every day. The Angels keep telling me that it’s not the evil, destroying us; it’s our indifference to others’ suffering.
I keep hearing the words “Demon” or “Monster” interchanged with the latest school shooter’s name. While “locking him up and throwing away the key” may solve that problem, it doesn’t solve THE problem. We’ve had 100’s of school shootings in the United States and the results are always the same: politicians offer platitudes, all the while taking millions of dollars from the NRA, discussions banning assault weapons while blaming the mentally ill; spending billions of dollars making our schools into fortresses, while teachers and parents are forced to lay out hundreds of dollars each year just to get basic supplies in the classroom. Can you imagine the Air Force holding bake sales or selling wrapping paper to get a new F-18 or warhead?
While many of the shooters can get a mental illness diagnosis slapped on them, accurate or not, what all of them have in common is desperation- the desperate need to be heard!
This week, as a substitute teacher, I’ve had to tell numerous students that playing violent shooting video games wasn’t appropriate, especially in a school setting. Some male teachers have said the kids are “just blowing off steam.” While I can see how that’s true, I can’t help thinking, is this the best way for students to blow off steam by killing people in a video game using an AK-47-style gun? I can’t help but see the irony in this.
Most of the time, the students turn off the game when I talk to them. This week, I’ve had to get admin to tell the kids this isn’t appropriate, “even though our teacher lets us.” One student ignored me the first time so I had to talk to him twice. He begrudgingly got off but then 45 minutes later he was back on the game. When I told him I was going to write him up, he incredulously asked why since all the teachers let him and he was only playing this as his "brain break." "What’s the big deal?"
Later when I was telling an admin about this, I started crying. She walked me to her office, where I broke down. I felt like I couldn’t breathe and felt like I was convulsing. I couldn’t speak and could only shake my head yes or no. The Admin thought it was because he was so disrespectful. Then it occurred to me, that this is about the shooting at UNLV. I know someone who was in the building at the time of the shooting. The “What’s the big deal?” translated in my head as it was okay to kill someone I know and love. Even though I knew they were physically okay when I heard about the shooting, it still shook me up for weeks. My thoughts were spinning about what their death would have meant to me, and our family, and what contributions they could have made in the world were lost. It also reminded me of how life can turn on a dime.
Recently, I saw a female student in tears telling her principal about the names she was being called and how hurt she was. He responded by telling her, essentially, to suck it up: “You’re better than that; they don’t know what they are saying; I’ll talk to them if you really want me to.” (Insert Heavy Sigh or rolling of the eyes.)
The people who act out are the canaries in the coal mine. There are probably hundreds more like them, who feel the same way. I was once told that riots erupt when the oppressed feel like they no longer have a voice. This doesn’t mean that they are evil. They are lashing out because they keep being told their voice doesn’t matter.
While some lash out violently, some choose to take their own lives instead. These are two sides of the same coin. I can tell you from personal experience (both as a substitute teacher and a counselor working with high-risk teens) that when teens take their own lives, it devastates their peers, teachers, principals, counselors, and their families. It leaves them with the same questions: Why did this happen? What did I miss? How could I have prevented this? While in others, it validates their feelings that suicide really is a way out of the intense suffering that they feel and take their own lives too.
I have worked with numerous students who have attempted suicide, and some have died because of the relentless bullying online. Now there is sextortion and revenge porn. Where strangers and sex offenders want nudes to use them as a weapon to either send them money or they will publish the pictures to your whole contact list. Sex offenders use the nudes as leverage to make you send more nudes for their sexual gratification. Not to mention, revenge porn where scorned lovers send nudes of their partners when things end. Many teens and young adults genuinely believe that their lives are over when these things happen, especially if they don’t feel like they have anyone they can turn to for help.
In our culture, there are lots of things happening that we just can’t sit still for anymore. We’ve established numerous laws that criminalize homelessness, we encourage policies where businesses don’t have to pay employees living wages and give employees how-to packets on how to apply for food and medical assistance and then we shame them for using those very services their employer sent them to. Many people blame the poor for their station in life but then do little to undo the damage done by redlining neighborhoods. We allow a rape culture to persist and then blame and shame the women for being raped. We, as a culture, ostracize and shame people for being a minority, female, gay, poor, mentally ill, or “different” than us.
This all reminds me of the words by Martin Niemöller:
First, they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
When we, as a culture, are indifferent to the suffering of others, we give permission for more of the same. We need more compassion for our fellow brothers and sisters - and we need to have more compassion for ourselves. Many of us feel like we are on a merry-go-round and can’t find any way off. It’s easy to blame others for our station in life. It’s much harder to say something when we feel we are on tenuous ground ourselves.
We have to speak out. We have to band together and say, enough. Remember, it’s not the evil that destroys us, but it’s our indifference to the suffering of others that does. You don’t have to dedicate your life to any of these causes, but when you see something and speak out against it, you will give others the courage to speak up too.
I love what the Lorax says at the end of the book, “I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees for the trees have no tongues. … Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot. Nothing is going to get better. It's not.” ― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax.
Anyone can do these things by themselves, but sometimes we like to practice with others like us. I am running a Clairs Class at AIMS on Wednesdays on the Loveland Campus from June 05 - July 17th on Wednesdays from 5:30 to 7:30. Coming soon are the dates for the new Clairs 2 class in Loveland and an Intro into Mediumship class. I will also be at the Belu Olisa Fair on September 28 & 29, 2024 from 10 am to 5 pm both days.
I would love it if you would share the things that have worked for you, being supportive of each other, and cheering each other on. Note: The comments section is at the bottom of this page.
Until next time…
Leanne Psychic Medium
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