Empathy
You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive. – James Baldwin
Many people suffer.
They do not let you know.
They keep their pain inside, not exposing it randomly.
They hold onto their fear.
They choke back their hearts.
They deny themselves.
What they don't recognize collectively is that they are wounded.
Broken.
What has caused these scars, these wounds to the American spirit?
The abuse done by other humans.
Not time.
Not place.
Not entities.
People hurt people.
Power, money, and sex are the three ugly children of greed.
This greed manifests itself, meaning it creates itself through those who believe that anything goes.
Anything goes as long as you get what you want.
This kind of thinking, this idea of winning at any cost, is the opposite of empathy.
It is the antimatter of empathy.
It destroys hope.
The people who use this way of thinking, taking what they want, when they want, come in all kinds.
All colors.
All races.
All genders.
All ages.
They are your friends.
They are your President.
They are your corporate boards.
Across the heartland of America, the trust and the patriotism of its citizens have been abused.
We have been made to believe that our economic suffering is not the fault of those in power.
It's an old, old, old story.
Those who abuse never take responsibility now, do they?
They blame the victim or someone else.
How shocked would we be if Cosby, Weinstein, or the President stood up and said I was wrong, I committed the crime.
I'm guilty.
You're right.
I'm a P.O.S.
They can't do it because they have no empathy.
They use people.
They use their trust.
They use their beliefs.
They use their faith to twist and manipulate to get their orgasm.
To get the power, the money, and the sex they deserve.
At your and my expense.
At the expense of our humanity.
At the expense of our well-being.
This is why there is such a large group of Americans who have lost faith in the system.
Generation after generation, their empathy has been used and abused against them.
By the corporation, the salesman, by the government, and by the faith leaders.
This is why this President was able to manipulate the long-standing desire for a better life in our country.
He exploits goodwill.
He made a promise to persecute and eliminate those whom he and they blamed for their economic destitution.
Has he, did he?
No.
But he says he has, and that's all they need to hear.
In their state of suffering, he has their ear because he is talking their language.
He is soothing their fears.
To those who have lost the American dream and blame immigration, unions, politicians, and treaties, this President offers a kind of empathy.
This is why we must understand this deadfall in which too many Americans find themselves falling into.
They are trapped by their myth, their economic plight and the devil promising them a better life.
That is why we can't just talk about making things better.
We will not penetrate the economic wall behind which too many Americans find themselves trapped.
We have to become the hope that so many people are looking for.
We have to engage and meet our friends face to face.
We have to acknowledge their pain, their suffering, and their real loss of prosperity and hope.
We have to row the lifeboat out into the darkness and pick up our brothers and sisters in the water, pulling them to shore.
A life does not have any less worth just because it is afraid.
We are all in this together.
This is an awakening from our childhood.
This revolution of awareness.
Let us use our empathy to stand side by side with those who have lost hope.
We all need a friend.
It's the human thing to do.
Empathy.
Peace
Daniel J Frey aka Toby