People Second

I don’t know where to begin…

I am sure I am going to offend. (Who doesn’t these days, its like we are hard-wired to allow everything to offend us!) Even if I offend you, give my message a chance. I am human, I stumble and bumble with my words, but I assure you my intentions come from a good and sincere place…

So I will begin. I am a theist. I believe in God, a higher power or whatever title you choose to place on theism, dissect it how you like. I like to believe we all believe in something, and leave it as broad as that. I used to believe in people. As of late, I don’t see people; I see chaos. I see people fist fighting in the floors on black Friday. I see people attacking other people for having a point of view. You can respectfully agree to disagree, and still maintain a relationship. I see people judging a person on a 10-year old mistake, and bad fashion sense.

Today a lady was arrested and charges with theft for taking things out of the Goodwill donation bin, and there was some mention of some unspecified controlled pills. I read through the posts and even gave some input. People are saying she is a common thief. They are calling her a meth-head junkie, and she may be all of those things, or she could be six months clean, and has the stigma of a mistake following her through life. Perhaps she needed the stuff she took, maybe for right or wrong reasons. How do you charge someone for stealing donated items that had not entered Goodwill nor had been inventoried? When did we lose our humanity? If this had been 50 years ago, the community would have taken pity, and got together and donated their unwanted clothes to her. Today we condemn a person no one has even met, or walked in her shoes. We condemn her over material things. We put that donated junk, above that person, rather than trying to understand the situation. Materialism first, people second.

If we watch and believe all the garbage that media is brainwashing us to believe, then we should be for or against gay marriage, for or against transgender rights, for or against Muslims, for or against closing Mexican borders etc. etc. How about hold to your opinion, and love the person and not the thing you don’t believe in, because both are possible. You can respect someone’s very soul without being for or against anything. Being for or against something invites adversity and constant turmoil in our lives. Everyone is so angry. I am not mad, transgender or being Muslim may not be my thing, but hey…my lifestyle my not be your thing, but we all really, really like pizza and want to feed the poor and believe in a higher power, despite the label. We have common ground, we have a reason to respect one another, and we should.

Labels first, people second.

I watch people pick a person, and leech on to them simply to see what they can get out of them. They suck them dry, while acquiring material things or self-promotion. Good people are dying while being hosts to all these parasites! When did we adapt the fight or flight mentality? When did it become okay to use someone until they are all dried up, and then discard them without a second thought?

Sincerely, See the Trend? People first, material things second