My open letter to the social movements of our day.

A Plea For Humanity

To the Organizers and Leaders of:
    The Black Lives Matter Movement
    The Blue Lives Matter Movement
    The Women's Liberation Movement
    The Science March Movement
    The LGBTQ Rights Movement
    The No Dakota Access Pipeline Protest
    The Free Hugs Project

Within the heart of all humanity there is a desire for an opportunity to create happiness and wake up each day with a smile.

    I'm heart broken by the state of our world. Wars have become societal norm. Pictures and videos of malnourished children are almost accepted as normal. Most don't look at a fellow human and see an individual of light and friendly love, but a square with a set of check marks that we label them as. LGBTQ, black, white, brown, poor, rich, Republican, Democrat, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, mental, sick and the list goes on and on. We have become divided. I see a group of passionate people here, and they are fighting for human dignity. And I see a sect of people there fighting for human rights and dignity. The women's march is inspiring, The Black Lives Matter movement is inspiring. The Blue Lives Matter Movement is inspiring. The science community is banding together to fight the stifling of climate change data. It is hard for me to believe that the LGBTQ community is still fighting for their unalienable rights. It is so hard to stay truly happy in a heart broken world, where pain seems to permeate ever facet of society. Though I know good and positive things are happening, that is not where the focus is.  And it almost seems unfair to focus on only these positive stories that shed light in the darkness. When, for almost two-thirds of my life the world has been war torn. The poverty stricken and malnourished children wretch my heart out. We see refugees from war torn country's, that we invaded, as subhuman. The blatant disrespect for native and indigenous people everywhere is up hauling. I think of the Dakota access pipeline right now.

    But the thing is, I know humanity is not lost. I know and believe that the majority of life on this planet desires harmony, and wants to see things change towards love and respect for each other and this world we live in. We all want to see healthy, happy children dancing for a bright future. We all want an opportunity to pursue happiness on our terms. We all want to see celebrations of life and diversity because it is our diversity that creates beauty all around us. We all want to see the shimmer of a garden of Eden like we see in those remote places that thankfully haven't' been effected by forces of negativity. We all want peace. We all want to feel truly connected. We all want to love and to be loved. We all want the same thing.

    And the only thing keeping us from attaining our deepest desires is divisiveness. It is a tactic as old as time. Divide and conquer. I see beautiful  social movements rise form the heart ache of divided attitudes. I see these social movements working separate from each other. I see each of these loving movements stir up a passion in the hearts of mankind and create a spark of desire for change. Could you even fathom what would happen if all these sparks of light and love came together under one creed? For the love of humanity, let us unite! The Women's March rocked the world in January. The Black Lives Matter movement opened my eyes to mistreatment of my fellow man because of another divisive tactic. The Blue Lives Matter movement tells us that there still are men and women in blue who truly do care. The Pride Parades every year all over the world tell us that love and acceptance is the way of the future. The No Dakota Access Pipeline Protest tells us that we need to pay attention to how we treat our Earth and her inhabitants. The Free Hugs Project shows us that a simple act of kindness can change the heart of our fellow man.

    All these social movements are fighting symptoms of the same problem. And, when boiled down to a common factor, that problem is that we are divided. Even in our fight for equality there is an air of separation. This is a dogmatic perception ingrained in our minds and it leaves u at odds with each other. If we the people of Earth who desire unity can not come together and fight with each other and for each other, then we are no different than the minority who seeks to divide us.

    I speak as a simple Chicago boy, with a southern twist, an East coast attitude and a Southern California vibe. All I wish for is that we all come together. That we fight for our dying Earth which we are all an integral part of.  That we fight for simple human dignity. That we fight for justice. That we fight for equality. That we fight for love and not give into the narrative of fear. And, to take it a step further, may we write our own narrative that adamantly states; we are united; we are free; we are one race of our Earth and we demand righteous retribution!

    For the love of humanity let us unite! Let us write our own story of love and unity that I know we all hold dear to our hearts, and see in our minds eye.

    It is my hope that this open letter finds its way to the organizers and leaders of our social movement. Its is my desire that at the very least it starts a dialogue  for how we can all begin working together. It send chills down my spine to imagine the magnitude of what a diverse sea of people would look like, all with different passions, united under one cause. For the love of humanity, may we build each other up. May we march and fight for each other, with each other. May we accept and celebrate our differences. It does not matter if you hold to Republican ideals. I do not care if you affiliate with the Democratic party. The differences between Christianity and Islam and every other religion is something beautiful. The color of my skin does not set me apart from you, but simply means I'm an individual with unique features. It is funny because if we look inside ourselves, our hearts are all the same. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream, a conscious rendering of a collective revolution. I do not like to assume, but I do not mind assuming here that this dream is the same in the hearts of all who read this.

    It comes down to what you focus on. For me, I choose to focus on light and love and what unites us. We are the majority. The world is full of love. Let us not despair and sing a chorus of Hallelujah. It is like that infamous song by our late Leonard Cohen. There are so many versus all seeming to say something different, but they all speak of a 'Hallelujah'. Let us come together with our differences and sing a Hallelujah. For the love of humanity, let us unite!

Sincerely Yours

A human being, concerned for the well-being of all and our home, Earth.

What if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb, but the darkness of the womb? - Valarie Kaur