What if the people I believe are wrong turn out to be right?
If that day of revelation comes, will I then regret the way I perceived and/or treated them?
This is an important question, one we should all be asking ourselves, especially right now.
If I answer “yes” to that question- if I can foresee regret in how I treated them, then that says a lot. And it means I need to change how I behave right now.
Age and experience doesn't necessarily make people more wise, but I do recognize that the older I get, the less able I am to cling to ideals and beliefs. I hold them lightly knowing how likely I am to see them differently in the future. I have been proven wrong time and time again about shit I was 100% convinced I was right about. I have needed a lot of grace and love to cover my multitude of sins. Should I not extend the same grace and love to my brothers and sisters?
I am finding a new and curious type of freedom lately. I am becoming more confident in my own beliefs but also realizing my sense of security does not reside in my beliefs themselves. I don't have to be a sarcastic snotty asshole towards those I believe are perpetuating a culture of death. Because just maybe they aren't. Maybe they are contributing to a healthy culture of life I am currently blind to. So I love them anyway, as if they are living breathing feeling complex beautiful humans like me. Right or wrong, they are still Love incarnate.
I will continue to stand for the things I believe in, but I will do so from a place of love and integrity. I might be wrong in the end, and if that day comes, I don't want to have regrets about the way I treated anyone. I will know that my heart was always in the right place and that Love was always my guide.
When I reach the end of my life, I want to know that I spent it LOVING, because that is literally the only reason we are here. These challenges we are facing simply give us opportunity to discover just how deep and wide and high Love truly is.
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Written in 2021.