I was raised to be a very accepting and open person and life has done it’s part to lead me down the same path.  And I have chosen to walk down the path of understanding.  The moments in my life where I was made fun of as a young child and moments where I have been push to the outside, have given me perspective.  As a result, I set a goal as a child that I carried with me into adulthood, to never make anyone feel the way people have made me feel at moments of my life.  I don’t want people to feel like they don’t belong and I don’t want people to feel judged.  I always seek to understand and I want people to feel safe with me and my friends always.

Looking at the state of the world we need to seriously start breaking down barriers by geographic lines, by class, race, gender, sex, religion, political views and all the ways we are taught to divide.  If theses issues were resolved like we want to believe, they wouldn’t keep popping up like they have been this year alone.  We are all the same at the end of the day, people struggling within the human experience, who experience the same emotions to various degrees and share the same stories.  This blog post is coming from someone who is getting tired of seeing the hurt in so many people eyes, hearing the stories of pain, human suffering from physical abuse to major social issues.  From the people who feel like their life is in a rut to the people who don’t have the power or voice to speak up for themselves.  We need to come together and do our part.  This isn’t about Darwin’s survival of the fittest…we are talking about people who have a soul and a purpose for being.  From something as simple as talking about our stories and our struggles to being active and speaking out against injustice is what humanity needs.

I hope and think the world is starting to see that we need to dialogue more often and not hold in our wounds, hurts and experiences.  We need to really seek to understand and solve problems versus brushing over or looking past what really needs to be done.  We need the world agenda to be based on acknowledging that no person is better than anyone else so that we can truly come together in peace.  We are much stronger as a unit then we can ever be as individuals.

“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” – Henry Ford