By Eric Rittmeyer
There’s an old saying that you’ve hopefully heard before:
“If the shoe fits, wear it.”
If you have no idea what that means, I’ll explain it to you in the simplest of terms: If something applies to you, accept it.
No matter how bad it hurts. No matter how much you dislike it. No matter how angry it makes you.
Own it if it applies, disregard it if it doesn’t.
Keeping that in mind, I’d like to ask you a few questions on behalf of the vast majority of people in this country that still have partially functioning frontal lobes.
How does attempting to remove, cancel and/or silence things you don’t like solve any problems?
How many people do you know personally that are truly offended by a cartoon book or by a picture on a bottle of syrup?
How does ripping down a statue improve anyone’s future?
Have you thought that maybe the physical presence of any of these things isn’t the real problem?
Have you considered that maybe the real problem is the refusal to teach our children the lessons that were learned from errors that helped shape our country into one of the best places on earth to live?
Instead of directing our mental energy toward things that do absolutely nothing to solve any problems, why don’t we direct it toward the issues that are truly responsible for the complete erosion of our nation’s cultural fabric?
Those are:
- bad behavioral choices;
- a total breakdown of the family structure; and
- horrible cultural influences.
I don’t care what the color of your skin is. I don’t care what your sexual preference is. I don’t care what gender you consider yourself to be.
The continued refusal to address these three issues is at the core of our nation’s obsession with hate.
And that’s truly what I’m beginning to believe it is – an obsession.
The denial and/or inability to accept the consequences for our actions need to stop.
Almost dying because you thought drinking bleach or aquarium cleaner would prevent COVID is your fault.
Falling ill from eating TidePods because you watched someone do it on YouTube is your fault.
Continuing to view everything through the lens of a person’s race as opposed to his or her actions only fuels the flames of hate and division and prevents us from finding any type of peace.
The automatic “default” reaction of labeling people or things as racist instantaneously shuts down thought processes.
It prevents us from finding solutions for problems because we’re too afraid to search for what’s really causing the issue.
We need to stop allowing the foundation of our rebuttals to those we disagree with to be rooted in anger, delusion and the assumption of that person’s worst intentions.
We can’t keep shouting down/silencing people that try to provide solutions to problems just because we don’t like what they’re saying. Labeling people as racist solely because they have an opposing point of view only provides shelter for those that are truly deserving of the label.
Anger is not the answer.
Hatred is not the answer.
Assigning collective punishment for isolated guilt is not the answer.
We begin to build a happier future once we realize that we’re all hard-wired the same exact way; we’re just different variations of the same core psychological blue print.
We want love, peace, kindness, happiness and good health.
“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” – MLK
Eric Rittmeyer is a former U.S. Marine and an expert in the fields of mental toughness and emotional intelligence (EQ). He is the author of “The Emotional Marine – 68 Mental Toughness and Emotional Intelligence Secrets to Make Anyone Instantly Like You.”
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