Stephanie Says.. Take a walk inside my head

Crying right now. Reading some obviously biased “us vs them” statuses that link to articles and blogs.
I just wanna say…STOP
I hear it all day at work, you know…
I work with boys, so I hear “girls are” or “girls are not”
I work with mostly older customers so I hear “doctors are” or “insurance companies do”
I do it too. I say “boys are weird” or “customers are annoying”
But the articles on social media now? Do these people even TRY to research? They sooo would get failing grades from the professors of the (very few) journalism classes I took in college
RESEARCH
VERIFY
I am a girl. I live in Kentucky. My eyes change color according to my mood. My friend is a girl. She lives in Kentucky. HER eyes change color according to HER mood.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT EVERY GIRL IN KENTUCKY HAS COLOR CHANGING EYES
It bothers me a little when people post things about historical figures without fact checking the things which they are distributing.
It bothers me A LOT when people post things about crimes being committed and the ways in which people are doing so when there is NO EVIDENCE that such an act ever occurred. Anywhere. To me that is a) spreading fear for no reason at all and b) giving future criminals ideas of how to spruce up their resumes.
It INFURIATES ME when articles are posted claiming that ALL members of a particular race or generation or profession or religious group do thus and such because EVERY OTHER MEMBER (without exception) OF SAID GROUP ALSO SPEAKS OR BELIEVES OR ACTS THAT WAY
First…I admit that I do-and have done- my own share of conversing thusly. I stereotype and generalize even though I HATE generalizations.
People are complex. ONE person may be a singer, an athlete, a middle child, student council president, a karaoke freak, a HUGE college basketball fan, a single mom or dad, a lover of Hello Kitty, and on and on and on. If ONE person cannot be made to fit into some pre set group or match some very narrow label, how are we honestly expected to categorize AN ENTIRE POPULATION.
I don’t know where you live. I don’t know who you know. I don’t know what conversations you have had, research you have done, beliefs that you have taken to heart.
Maybe a stranded horde of aliens with purple hair and skin colored in blue polka dots IS settling into your town, IS taking over the education of your children, IS infiltrating your water system. Maybe they ARE indoctrinating your toddlers into believing that picking one’s nose and eating one’s boogers is the only TRUE path to a life full of goodness, a world full of abundance and plenty. Because of this maybe you DO want to shoot anything purple on sight and ask questions later. After all, isn’t the different only safe when it is destroyed?
Gentle reminder, friend.
YOU are different too.
I’m willing to bet that not EVERY song on your playlist conforms to those on the playlist of your friends.
I’m willing to bet that you have some secret late night pleasure that you hide from all but your nearest and dearest. Are you a hula hoop champion? Can you limbo on roller skates? Do you smuggle badly copied episodes of “Hello Kitty” into your home to watch on the nights when you just can’t sleep? Do you secretly love show tunes and can;t admit that you know every word to the -Les Miz- soundtrack because your family and friends all turn on hard rock and rap?
Gentle reminder, friend
You don’t know everything.
You may THINK you know where “they” have come from.
You may THINK you know why “they” are here
You may THINK you know what “they” are after
What “they” teach their children
What “they” do in “their” meetings
What “they” say in “their” churches
You may THINK you know what “they” want
But there is ALWAYS ALWAYS more to learn
Have you actually done your homework?
Have you actually ever TALKED to them?
Are you basing your beliefs on what others say rather than what you have seen and felt and experienced for YOURSELF?
You know, not every green haired person DOES come from (name a place where not every person who looks slightly alike comes from)
You know, not everyone who reads (insert title of book you don’t believe that you agree with here) DOES go on to espouse those values that you are so afraid of.
Not everyone with a nose ring acts like every other person with a nose ring.
Not everyone with sandals instead of heels acts like every OTHER person with sandals instead of heels.
Not everyone with an ankle tattoo acts like every other person with an ankle tattoo
There is variety.
Even within geographic regions, there is variety.
Even within population groups or cultures, there is variety.
Even within genetic lineages, there is variety.
You may or may not look like the people in YOUR family.
You may or may not share the interests of the people at YOUR job.
You may or may not still be clinging to the values taught to your as a child in YOUR church.
“Witches can be right”, we are taught in the lyrics to -Into the Woods’- “No One Is Alone”
“Giants can be good”
People in pants can be evil
or kind
or a combination of both
People with TV audiences can be idiots
or geniuses
or something in between
This “us vs them” stuff has GOT to stop
Or we’ll end up tearing ourselves apart more fiercely than those we fear could have ever dreamed of doing.
Not everyone with brown hair want to teach people to wear socks with no shoes
Not every blonde wants us all to sing off key
Not every person we pass in the grocery store is an enemy
And yet, we are so very afraid
The only way different is safe is when it is destroyed, yes?
So we can all go back to our one cat, one dog, 1.5 children, two car garage, yard sale on Saturday little life?
NO…of course not. Some of us use Saturdays to sleep, some to swim, some to samba…
We are not the same
We are not ALL the same
Neither are “they”
We do not all look the same, dress the same
We do not share the same history, language, literature, DNA… we live very different lives
So do “they”
And “they”
oftentimes
Are afraid of “us”
To “them”, WE are the aliens, the dangers, the differences, the villains
To “them”, we preach hate
Spread violence
Shoot first and ask questions later
To “them” we are as uncaring as we accuse others of being
Guess what?
You don’t know everything
Neither do I
There is still so much left to say
There is still so much left to learn
Small towns are NOT being taken over by EVERY person who dares to move into the place that has, to you, represented freedom from the outsider for generation after generation
Children are NOT being taught to hate everyone who does not share the color of their hair
Violent crimes are NOT being committed solely by the members of one race, one doctrine, one generation (of which you, of course, are most assuredly NOT)
People
Whether they belong to “us”
Whether they belong to “them”
Are dying
Begging
Starving
For connection
Purpose
Love
Understanding
There is still so very very much left to learn
There are still so very very very many
conversations to have
There are still
so
veryveryvery many
Friends
You just have not yet met
If
you
and I
and all of “us”
Would just go speak to
Listen to
Just try to SEE
Just try to HEAR
one of “them”
Maybe then
I wouldn’t spend my nights
quite so broken hearted
Maybe then
there would be a different reason
That I cry
Every time
I open the news
And I begin
To read