I Won't Back Down

There is an alarming trend that is happening, one of that people are refusing to back down. When we are confronted by a situation instead of just walking away, and saying to ourselves it isn’t worth the fight, we stand and fight, first with words, and then with blows. And then if comes down to it, we might even get a gun, come back and shoot the person who has wronged us. Why are we acting this way? Is it because every other thing we see on television is someone killing someone else as if it’s their right. Is it because every video game has people being killed and the winner is always the one that hurts the most, kills the most, because nothing is more important than winning the day, not because they have a good character or intellect, no it has to be by force. Even the language we use towards one another, not even out of anger are vile words, like b-tch, and n-gg-r when we describe each other. We don’t respect each other or ourselves when we use words like that. This is the information we ingest everyday and feed our children. If we go on a line, we cut ahead, we push, and if anyone says anything, we are offended and we are willing to fight, cause harm, and maybe even kill because we won’t back down.

It is amazing to me how we are raising awareness and winning battles for justice, so our rights as citizens are not stepped on by authoritarian abuses by the police or unjust laws, and yet we abuse each other daily. We want respect, we demand respect and we are offended when we don’t get it. If we are not getting respect, if we are not being treated with dignity, if we are not being treated with kindness, or if no one is there to give a helping hand, is because we are not it giving ourselves?

When we listen to what someone else has to say, then we are respecting their opinion, we don’t have to agree with it, but we have opened up the space for them to listen to us. If we smile and say good day, give a kind word, then that person is taking the goodness you have given them, it has affected them, and then they can give it to someone else. But when we push in line, call people names, when we are the young and the strong that sit down and let the old, sick, weak, and disabled stand, then we are letting what we do have its effect on others, so that they feel hurt, angry, miserable, beaten and then they will pass that on. What kind of world are we creating for ourselves? Is it a world where we don’t care about anyone but ourselves, and just the strong survive? There will always be someone stronger, does it make them better or right? Or are the true survivors, the ones that control themselves and use their minds to govern their actions to build and create beauty for themselves and others, that ultimately leaves a legacy behind them. But if you hurt someone, you hurt yourself and the hurt is passed on and on. And if you shoot someone, you’re in jail and they are dead. You‘re life is wasted and forgotten, for what, because you won’t back down?

We should not say, I will be kind to someone when someone is kind to me first, because then we are all just waiting and holding our kindness inside ourselves. If we all wait for someone to do the right thing, then no one is ever receiving any kindness and goodness. If you are the one to extend yourself, you have given something very special and wonderful, and it doesn’t matter if you don’t receive it in return that minute. The energy you have placed in the world is there. You don’t know how you have changed the person you were kind to, just by letting them know that the world is not a cold and cruel place, and that people do care about more than just themselves. Yes, we can back down and say, let the anger that person is feeling stay with them, and if I become angry then they are forcing me to be like them. I will control myself, my happiness and in turn I will protect the happiness of the others around me.