To The Editor,
In the past few years, this world has gone crazy. Not a little crazy, but a lot crazy. People are angry or sad, scared or unsure about the things going on this world. The wars, the protests, the virus, the people who are not happy with themselves or their bodies, the vaccine, the shootings, are all making this world a not so nice place to live. The question is: what happened?
As parents, we teach our children to share their toys with others. As adults we fight over things that we want, we go to war to take what isn’t ours, to bully others into doing want we want them to do or how to live. How can we dare to teach our children to share and not steal when we as adults do just that? How can we put our children to bed and kiss them good night, say I love you and the very next morning go out and send out bombs to kill others that put their kids to bed, kissed them goodnight and said I love you? All around the world this happens with families. Adults used to say “the children are our futures” well…not if adults are going to kill these same children they claim to love. Children are suffering all over this world due to decisions adults make. It isn’t the children asking to go to war or to kill someone because of the color of their skin. It isn’t the children who take from the poor to give to the rich. It isn’t the children who asked to be abused or asked to work to help bring in money to feed the family. Children all over the world are being hurt in one form or another. When will the adults of this world stop hurting our children? Children were given to us to be loved, nurtured and taught to grow up to be adults that do no harm to another human being.
What happened to faith? When faith was removed from schools we took away the right to learn about love and goodness. We took away from our children the right to learn about God and faith. Faith brought people together, it didn’t divide or hurt. It brought love and joy to all that wanted to have the good in their lives. This world used to have faith in God and in their fellow man. What happened? Greed and selfishness happened. The importance of God diminished and faith followed suite when greed and selfishness took over. The Bible says to love thy neighbor as yourself. The love isn’t there anymore. Love and faith brings goodness, kindness and togetherness. Love forgives past wrongs and love doesn’t judge or do anything to harm others. People need to get back to loving others. Not just love for the family but for the stranger stuck on the highway, love for the homeless and love for all people no matter where they are from, no matter the color of their skin or whatever has been done in the past. We as individuals cannot continue to blame or shame others for past wrongs. We must be forgiving and allow the past to stay in the past or this world will never heal or go forward in a good way.
There are people right now out in this world that are not happy with whom they are. Not happy with their gender or their lives. Not happy because they aren’t thin, or beautiful, not happy with their hair color or that they aren’t tall. People are always comparing their outward selves with others. We all see on the television or magazines women who are beautiful and men who are well built and we decide we want to be just like them. It is true that there are people like that in the world but instead of wanting to look like them, look inward. Ask yourselves this question, are these people happy? We have heard that it isn’t what we are on the outside but on the inside that counts. This statement is very true. Are the beautiful people out there kind and caring to others? Do they give to others freely? If these beautiful people were unkind, selfish, and petty, would you want to be just like them? We are also teaching our children that unless you are flawless you don’t matter. People say that they want to be unique but then end up being the same as all those who want to be unique. We are all unique. Every man, woman and child is unique inside and out. To make a major change to our outward selves is to change who we are uniquely inside. This world now wants to change our children. To tell our children that they can decide whether they want to be a boy or girl, a cat or a dog and whatever else they desire is cruel and wrong. Children don’t know what they want. How many children ask their parents near Christmas for one thing and the very next day change their minds? Before we change our children we need to change our selves. Not outward but inward. We need to love ourselves and be happy with who we are. If we don’t like we see in ourselves then we need to change it. We can’t help our children to be happy and to love themselves if we are unwilling to love ourselves.
Since 2020, everyone’s lives got turned upside down. The virus happened and everyone was afraid. Some are still afraid. Then the vaccines came out and still the fear grew. This fear separated families, closed down businesses and schools. This fear sent out hatred to all who chose not to get vaccinated. Fear forced people to get vaccinated for fear of losing their jobs or family members. Families argued, people got angry because they weren’t allowed to go out, they lost their jobs and livelihood. This fear divided people, nations, and families. Grandparents were told by their own children to get vaccinated or else they couldn’t see their grandchildren. Employees were told get the jab or lose your job. This fear that was sent out is cruel, it is distasteful and this fear is hurtful to all. This fear controls people because when they are scared they will do anything to get rid of that fear. We cannot allow fear to rule our lives. We cannot allow fear to be hurtful and cruel. We cannot allow fear to cripple us and stop us from a free life, a life of hopes, dreams, love and freedom. We cannot allow fear to stop us from helping others or caring for others. We must be brave and conquer our fears.
This whole world that we all live in is different. We have different customs, different holidays, different religions and are skin color is different. We have different eyes, hair color, body sizes and languages. There are a lot of differences but we are similar in many ways. We are all human beings. We all have feelings. We all bleed, live and die. We all want the very best for our loved ones. We all care for someone. We all go shopping or watch movies and listen to music. All people everywhere in this beautiful world of ours shares, cares, loves and wants to be loved. We all need each other. This world that has lost the love of others has lost a piece of itself. We may be all different but yet we are the same. We need to stop the fear, the hatred, the cruelty, the abuse, the name calling and the killing. If we don’t stop these things our world is ended. The world that we were born in will be lost. We ourselves will be lost. We need to get back to loving and caring for others. To helping our neighbors and we need to get back to God. God loves everyone no matter who they are or what they have done. If God alone can love and care for all of us then why can’t we do the same for others? Let us get back to the good things. Let us stop and really look at this world with loving eyes and a loving heart. Let us all be helpful to others and show others that we care because the more we care the happier everyone will be. Let us get back to those good feelings we get when we give to others our time and compassion. Let us all love.
Martha LeBlanc
Hawkesbury
