We ALL Belong Here

So, last Friday was the eighth year since the terrorists’ attacks on the United States and its allies. Though the immediate crisis of that traumatic event has passed, the memories of it yet stir emotions of sadness and (in some instances) rage for many people.

But who is angry with whom and why? These are the questions that need to be answered by everyone.

At first glance, it would appear the answers are simple enough. “We” are mad at “them” because of the “evil” that “they” did to “us” or because we fear that “they” will harm “us” or take away “our” way of living.

Following this premise, “we” justify “our” feelings and any acts of retalliation or revenge against “them” that may result from said feelings.

The problem with this “logic” is that at various points each of “us” has been/is now/will be a “them” to someone else. And it won’t matter that we personally have never intentionally done anything against anyone to provoke/deserve rejection, scorn and (all too often) violence perpetrated in the name of “justice”. “They” will be against “us” because to “them” we are “them”.

The truth is there is no “us” or “them“; there is only “we”. And “we” ALL belong on this planet (otherwise, “we” wouldn’t have been born and lived to this point). The sooner we recognize and accept the truth, the sooner “we” can stop all the hating, fighting and killing each other and start loving, accepting and helping each other instead.

In the prophetic words of Rodney King, “Can’t ‘we’ all just get along?”