In my lifetime I have witnessed many tremendous changes in society and the world we live in. I watched the telephone go from rotary dial to touch-tone and eventually to smartphones down the line. I watched computers go from gigantic room-sized units stacked across a wall to the size of a smartphone as well. Vynal records to 8-track tapes to cassette tapes, then to CDs, and eventually to digital formats such as MP3s.

Technology has come a long way since I was born way back in 1967, but it seems we still have a long way to go as a society. It seems we still are dealing with the same fears, prejudices, and division, some look the same some have just changed their outer appearance but they all are still there. Great visionaries such as Martin Luther King who dreamed of a world where we could live without judging one another due to our color, social status, or financial situation gave us hope to hold on to.

But we still hold on to labels, stereotypes, and the illusion that we all are so different we can not live together. We are all the same in the fact we want to be happy, and live life with enough abundance we never are in need or want. We all want our children to grow up and have happy productive lives without conflict or fear. Until we let go of the past and walk beside one another as equals into the future we will be trapped in this cycle of mistrust and fear. Learn from the past, don’t live in it, and carry the baggage from what was into what can and may be.

We face the problem of everyone thinking what they believe is the right way to live is the only way. As humans we all have been born with the right and ability to choose our own paths in life, no one has the right to dictate to another how to live, love, or worship. As long as the way you chose to live does not hinder or harm another then you have all the right in the world to live your life the way you desire.

Freedom of choice and free will are fundamental rights we are born with and should never be taken away from someone. Of course, with those rights, you have a great responsibility. Everything you do and say you are responsible for the outcome of said words and actions. Everything has some sort of reaction or consequence and you must face and accept responsibility for the outcomes.

If you disagree with how someone else lives their life you can express your disagreement but after that, you should accept the other person’s choices and respect their right to live by their choices. This is not condoning their actions, it is simply accepting they have the right to choose that path in life.

This is how my mother taught me in my childhood, she would tell me if I made a choice that she may have seen as wrong for me, or in general, she would simply point out the consequences for the action or choice and tell me to decide and face the music when it’s over. Usually, I would listen to her and choose correctly, sometimes I wouldn’t and I faced the consequences if not immediately, eventually down the line.

She never condemned me for my wrong choices nor did she condone them. She gave me the ability to choose for myself and that in itself was showing me respect as an individual human being. Luckily for a child, his or her parents have unconditional love and patience so it makes it easier to allow such mistakes to be made and let their child grow. Unfortunately, it seems much harder to have that compassionate and unconditional love for strangers and others in our lives.

If were to see each other as a family, distant relatives, or similar maybe we could learn to have more patience and show more compassion for one another. We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters or we may wind up dying together as fools to paraphrase Martin Luther king’s words of wisdom. We need to learn to put away those fears, wipe away the tears of past mistakes, and reach out to one another so we can build a happier future for our children and the future generations to come.

Peace and Blessings