The Big Fight

We live in a world within which we are fighting. Fighting for ourselves and each other, fighting for our communities and our rights, fighting against discrimination and oppression, fighting for understanding, acceptance, respect, equality, and peace, fighting for our freedom and our lives.

We feel less than, we feel restricted, we feel worthless and hopeless, we feel frustrated and angry, hurt and distressed. We worry for our families, our children, and future generations and our feelings drive us to take action. 

We are driven to protest, to demonstrate, to strike, and to resist. We need the world to know how we feel, to understand our struggles, to appreciate the impact that inequality, disdain, and violence has on our lives.

We are segregated. Men and women, black and white, rich and poor, gay and straight, abled and disabled, young and old, national and foreign, and all the people somewhere in the middle that struggle desperately with their identity when they don’t quite fit in to the categories we’ve all been assigned.

Aren’t we exhausted by now? Is it any wonder suicide rates are so high?

When we fight these fights that continue to be necessary, what is it we are truly looking for in each and every case? Aren’t we looking for a world in which we are all treated with respect? A world within which we can be free to be ourselves without fear? A world that allows us to be treated as a valued human being with potential and something to offer?

Alongside these battles we’re also fighting amongst ourselves, fighting for financial freedom, fighting for the environment and animal rights. We’re fighting urges and anxiety and procrastination and stigma. We’re fighting, fighting, fighting.

Imagine a world without power, a world without control, a world filled with harmony, respect and compassion. Would we be fighting these separate fights? Would our internal conflicts remain?

If we lived in such a world, wouldn’t we be more motivated to keep it healthy?

So what needs to happen? Could it be as simple as teaching basic human rights, respect, healthy relationships, compassion, understanding about our differences, etc to our children? To implement human rights, human need, human decency, humanity into our schools’ curriculum?

What if our children were taught the fundamental principles of being a decent human being, having healthy relationships, being kind to one another, appreciating the benefits of difference, showing respect to each other, offering compassion and empathy and understanding and a listening ear?

What if we were taught to see the good in each other, the ability to draw strength from one another, the benefits to being open and honest and true with each other? What if the curriculum included not only compassion towards others but compassion towards self, the wonderfulness of companionship and the tranquility in aloneness, the power of teamwork and the empowerment of independence?

I watched a video clip tonight about Kailash Satyarthi, a nobel prize winner dedicated to ending child slavery in India and, as much as I was deeply touched by the work he was undertaking, I was shocked in equal measure by the rejection of his work by those benefitting from the trade, their sheer rage at this man for working so tirelessly against them to return small children to their homes. It made me wonder what creates such a stark difference in people, that one could care so deeply for strangers that he would put his life on the line for them whilst the other cared nothing at all for the lives he destroyed in the pursuit of money and power.

They most certainly will have had very different upbringings, different role models, different messages about the world and what is important. And it made me wonder if the trader had been taught differently, had received healthier messages, had been encouraged to consider the needs of others, whether he would have taken the path he has taken. It would stand to reason that he would not.

We must teach our children from the start that they are human, they are a part of the human race, they belong to the same planet as everyone else that has lived before them and will live after them, that they are no different from anyone else who, underneath their outward appearance is striving for connection, for family, for friends, for love, for compassion, for understanding, for respect, for kindness, and to return these in equal measure.

Consider the idea of global respect. Respect for each other’s choices, each other’s differences, each other’s preferences, each other’s desires and ambitions, each other’s time, each other’s homes, their possessions, their families, their needs, their communities, and so on. There is no good reason this can’t be taught. And yet there is no real focus or emphasis on these essential human traits. We hope that parents teach their children well, but quite often parents have received unhealthy messages themselves and can only teach what they know. 

We hear of the ideal, of world peace, and I put it to you that in order to achieve this, we need to teach respect. Without it, we have no patience for understanding. Without understanding we have no unity, and without unity we become unequal in our own minds. 

Imagine if you will, that each individual member of the human race had respect for all others, would we see a need for women’s rights? Black Lives Matter? Gay pride? The abolishment of slavery? Would we see an end to terrorism, war, bullying, and abuse? It sounds simplistic but what if it doesn’t need to be complicated? According to Wikipedia, Kailash Satyarthi’s uneducated mother had a profound impact on him because of her ‘exceptionally idealistic and helpful nature.’ So what if world peace isn’t as difficult as it may seem on the surface? What if it could easily be taught? Wouldn’t it be worth a try? Let respect for self and others begin in those early stages of life. Let our uniqueness and differences be celebrated. 

The need for mental health services is compounded by the fights we are all putting so much energy into. A world where we are celebrated for who we are, appreciated for our differences, and respected in our choices is a world in which we would feel safe and secure and confident and free, a world within which our mental health has much less risk of decline. A world within which we could ask for support without the fear of judgement. A world we would continue to want to live in.

So maybe it’s worth one more fight, to get world peace culture into the curriculum?

What part might you play?

For more information on Kailiash Satyarthi you can visit Kailash Satyarthi - Wikipedia

To watch the video I referred to here, you can visit Kailash Satyarthi: The Nobel Peace Prize Winner The Mafia Wants Dead | Goalcast - YouTube