What is Up with That?

Effing hippies, Snowbot will take care of this

My awesome and wise friend Kathleen told me something her also awesome and wise mother told her: You can tell a lot about someone by how they treat strangers.

I was a teenager or in my early twenties when she relayed that wisdom to me, and I was not old enough to get it. Now, I do. I think it can be expanded to encompass a lot more than behavior to a cashier; I think it can be applied to our entire society.

You can tell a lot by a society by how it treats it most vulnerable citizens.

This isn’t a new concept. As a matter of fact, I am pretty sure I probably stole those words verbatim from someone.  Hell, I’m pretty sure major religions were based on folks saying something very similar.

This is more than just about feminism, gay rights, child welfare, or racism; it’s about all of us.

Ready for another shocker?? People in power want to keep their power. They will do whatever it takes to keep that power. Power is a pretty cool thing apparently. Some use force and intimidation, while others use trickier more effective means to keep power. They tell us they have the right to the power they have taken, and if we were stronger (richer, better looking, better connected, harder working) then we could have power, too. They want us to believe they earned this power, and we are somehow evil for wanting them to use the power for the benefit of all. Somehow they have no responsibility to us.

*cough*BULLSHIT*cough*

People in power, and who have power over us, only have that power because we gave it to them.

No one can have power over you unless you let them have it.

People can beat you, rob you, rape you, and hurt you in innumerable ways. Tyrants can rule countries and commit genocide. Politicians can steal the rights our country believes are ours by nature. We can’t stop some of it as individuals. I wish I could say there was some magic shield that kept children from being beaten. I refuse to make a woman feel like there was more she could do to prevent the sexual violence committed against her. It breaks my heart, but these things will happen. We cannot stop them. We can change them though.

We can take the power back.

We feel small and helpless most of the time. We feel like we are bumping in a world of trouble and pain and all we can do is struggle to keep our heads about water. We aren’t really wrong, but we forget a simple basic truth.

There is more of us than them.

If, as a society, we decided that poor treatment of the disenfranchised was wrong, we could fix it. We’ve done it before. It wasn’t easy, but we did it. (Of course, we stopped watching and lost some of our power. The people who wanted our power got trickier and convinced us it was bad to be things like a feminist. That is a different blog though.)

If we decided hate was not okay, and those in power should use the power we gave them to our benefit, not just theirs, we could fix it. It won’t be easy, but we could do it.

It boils down to being what you want our world to be. Be who you want others to be. Be brave, kind, generous, and caring and slowly the world will become these things.

If we make it clear treating a woman who is raped like a slut who asked for it, and rape and sexual violence is unacceptable, rape won’t stop, but women who are raped will have a lot more powerful. Rape reports would go up. Women will feel less victimized by a society that says things like “legitimate rape” or “her skirt was so short she was asking for it.”

If we decide as a society that people who abuse those weaker than them are angry immature children and those who protect the people around them are strong, bad things won’t stop happening. People will still beat up people who are weaker than them to feel stronger and more powerful, but it will reduce the incidence.

If, as a people, we redefine power as people who help and protect instead of those who take and hurt, our world will change.

I know it sounds simplistic. I know it sounds ‘Selina has her damn rose colored glasses on’ and I am not being realistic. It doesn’t sound realistic and can never be done. It HAS been done before, many times. We will have to keep doing it, too. Freedom and happiness are not something you win once and keep without care and vigilance. It is a process. Our nation’s founders knew this. They were pretty smart guys.

Oh, a parting thought on ‘realism,’ maybe making a people think change is impossible is a good way to keep them from trying. Don’t you think?