I am you and you are me...

I'm not sure where it started...this "us and them" mentality. I'm not quite sure who "us" and "them " really are....Hell, I question who I am half the time. There seems to be such a great divide amongst people these days...for what seems to be the silliest of reasons. I don't know what prompted this line of thought...the upcoming elections and the barrage of media pointing out the worst of one's character or the irony of me sitting here in my Women for Barack T-shirt making a comment on a friends page, who happens to be (I just realized) seemingly conservative...well, very conservative. As I read his status update, I am inspired by his passion for life, his Carpe Diem attitude! And I don't understand why people can't see that in each other everyday. The term "reaching across the aisle" is thrown around in politics and in the media quite often. It seems so odd. I picture a bunch of kids in uniforms sitting in a cafeteria, shaking hands and talking like middle aged business men. It seems impersonal and ridiculous. I'm more of a 'go sit at someone else's table and see what they're all about' kind of person. I don't get this 2 party, my idea is better than yours, my house is bigger than yours, my kids are better than yours mentality everyone has been sucked into. What happened to being nice to people? To choosing to be positive rather than negative? To loving every minute and finding the miracles...not the small miracles, for no miracle is small. We impact each other everyday and forget that we have a responsibility to each other to be kind. People waste so much time and energy on what they don't have and complaining about how things are. Instead they should be seeing what they do have and what they can do to change things...one person at a time, one gesture at a time, one smile at a time. When it takes such little effort to be considerate and demonstrate common courtesy, why are we so negative and quick to judge?
In the past few weeks several young people I have known have lost their lives to various causes. It makes me sick to know these people are no longer around to spread their love and laughter to everyone they touched. It also reminds me that it's insane that we take for granted the power we have to make a difference in someone's life. Starting with the people around you. Your love and positive energy fills them...and they carry with them all day, spreading it like wildfire. I know this to be true and see it in my own child. When we went trick or treating last night, Jonathan, proudly dressed as a green, fuzzy monster, rang the doorbell of a beautiful home in suburban Hagerstown. He got his bag filled and before leaving turned and said thank you. The man may not of heard him and didn't reply. So he just stood there until the porch cleared, went to the man and said in a sheepish little voice, "I said thank you". The man looked down, nodded, and smiled. Jonathan was unmoved. He looked up again and said, "Thank you , Happy Halloween". Finally, the man got it and gave him a dramatic "your welcome". When we were walking down the driveway, my son looked at me with his big, cheesy grin and said, "Mommy, he said your welcome, I taught him." I welled up inside and thought...yeah, Yianni, you did...You need to teach more people. My son's an amazing kid with some pretty high standards when it come to how people treat him. He is incredibly kind and equally sensitive. But everyday I am with him I see how he effects the adults around him, reminding us to smile and see beyond the gray routine of daily life and look for the sunrise and sunset and all the wonder in between.
Your influence spreads far beyond the walls of your home. You can have an impact on the woman at the bank and the kid at McDonald's....the guy on the street and the woman in the grocery store. Your kind gesture or understanding smile could make the difference in their attitude...whether you see it or not. We reflect the world around us...have you seen your reflection lately? Do you accept as you wish to be accepted? Do you publicly ridicule others for things you privately do? Do you really follow what you claim? Or is it just easier to belong than to go against the grain? To stand up for what you believe? A friend of mine told me about an email he got that was quite racist. He denounced the joke, saying he thought it was tasteless. I asked him if he told the guy he didn't agree with the email.. His response was that people are who they are and him saying something wouldn't change anything. I totally disagree. We are the only thing that can change it. By staying silent, he feed into this belief that it's ok to say it if you're "one of us". It's not ok, it's never ok. Perhaps I come from an emotional place when it comes to this because my son is biracial. Neither us nor them...Just him. But the people who we think are so different are the very ones that are most like us. How would we know the differences? Do you know anyone who doesn't look and think like you do? Do you explore the thoughts and ideas of others? Do you question and evaluate your own? Are you a man or a woman, gay or straight, married or single or somewhere in between...well, so are they. "They" are moms and dads and kids...."They" are "Us" and "We" are "Them". As long as "we are "we"...there is no "us and them"... no separation, just people letting people be people ....sounds a bit Seuss-y but if you give it some thought you should understand . At the end of this mid-morning rant, I have but one hope...that this has prompted someone, anyone, to think about their influence in the circle of life...to walk a bit softer on mother earth or listen a bit longer to the mother-in-law. You might be surprised at what you learn about them or your self.
So, the next time you have a choice, instead of just reaching across the aisle, go sit at someone else's table...just because you can...