Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Last week I talked about how we truly can never live in one another's shoes, and because of that we should shed compassion on others. That still remains true of course, but I wanted to discuss this a little further this week. The week before that I also talked about how we all cope with things differently and the best way we know how. I think over the past week it became clear to me that I needed to touch on those things just a bit more and in a different light.
Social media is a really great thing for so many reasons. We can stay in touch with loved ones who do not live close to us. We get to share the reasons we laugh, cry, or what keeps us up at night. We can find recommendations for a specific service we need, see our friend's new baby that lives in another country, or most importantly today we can spread awareness to social injustices and speak to others to inform and educate them. With all the great social media can bring, it also can bring some serious negatives. Over the past week I have seen so many people attacking or being attacked because of their lack of posting about certain things. Our feeds have been full of news and statements about injustices in this country right now, which is great. It is something that we should be talking about and shouldn't just dust under the rug, but is a lack of one individual’s social media presence on the issue really as negative as it is made out to be?
Just as I talked about in a previous post about coping with the Coronavirus, we all cope differently. To some of us that means that we post all over the internet to spread awareness on the issue. To others, like myself, it means writing a blog to spread my message of love and positivity the best way I know how. To others it means staying silent on social media, but having conversations in real life, protesting, donating to organizations, supporting Black owned businesses, and/or reaching out to others to offer support. In my opinion, none of these are any better or worse than the others. What difference does it make how we fight for a cause, as long as we are fighting for it? Why is a post on social media the only way some believe that you believe in fighting for the issue? Don't get me wrong I (very obviously as someone who writes a blog like this) wholeheartedly believe in the power of words, but in some situations actual action can outweigh them. Anyone can type up a social media post, hit send, close their phone/laptop, and move on with their day completely forgetting the issue at hand.
So what is my point in writing all of this you might be wondering? Well I want to encourage you all to just be kinder to one another and truly listen. If someone hasn't said anything on their Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter about the injustices in this country do not assume it is because they are on the wrong side. That person who has stayed silent on social media may have just had a hard conversation with someone they love about the issue. Another one may have just donated the little extra money they had in their bank account to an organization that is helping the cause. Never assume. Some people, very much like myself, really don't post about politics or current events on their pages at all. I personally have made an exception to that rule for this specific movement because I feel pretty strongly, but that does not mean everyone will.
Choose to believe the best in people even though I know with everything circulating the internet right now that gets harder and harder to do. Seek ways to better yourself and pass those resources along to the ones you love, hoping they will better themselves too. If you donate to a cause, it isn't any more or less impactful because you told your social media following. I am a strong believer as I said in the power of words, but in certain cases words alone do not have the power to change the world. Why don't we stop being judgmental of others because of what they choose to share (or not share) with the rest of the world. I agree that now is not a time to be silent, but speaking up has many different forms. Just because someone is silent on social media, does not mean they are being silent in the world. Keep spreading love to everyone around you, both on social media and in your physical lives. We each have the power to do our part to change the world so instead of attacking each other, let's praise each other for the things we do and continue to do for this world and for future generations.
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