How do we build a kinder society?

An interesting question. The answer is complicated. The answer is simple.

Be kind.

But on the complicated side there’s all this stuff around violence and wars and guns and bombs and violence again and more bombs and more killings and more guns going off in the hands of children who do not know anything other than to follow the ones who tell them to kill in the name of a god who is weeping at the sight of our inhumanity to one another. A god who cries in vain at the wars we fight in the name of righteousness, in the name of freedom. A god who closes its eyes in despair at our insistence that we feed our children drugs so they do not feel or know or recognize the horror of what we are forcing them to do.

In the name of God, when will we stop?

We, the humans of this world, have a long history of doing the wrong thing.

We have a history of stealing land, your land, my land. We have a history filled with genocide, colonialism, capitalism, oligarchies and monarchies, dictatorships and abuse of power and misanthropy and all kinds of power struggles that have left people feeling under foot, trodden down and disadvantaged.

This the history of our world. Centuries of it. Thousands of years to perfect the art of taking power, holding power, creating dynasties to hold onto power because power is everything we need to be in control. Power is the altar at which we supplicate ourselves to the gods of lording it all over the masses.

Because, there is always us.

The masses. The individuals who make up this swarming sea of humanity. The ones upon whom the yoke of servitude to a ‘greater cause’, a faith, a church have driven into the folds of conformity to a belief that holds us fast. A belief that dictates our way is the right way, which automatically makes your way wrong, so don’t bother to tell me how your way can be better. There is no way, no room, no space for dissension.

Ah yes, we are the one’s we have been waiting for. We are the one’s who yearn for a kinder society, who pray for peace while holding onto our belief that there is no way for peace until we have our way with the world.

How do you build a kinder world?

One act at a time. One decision. One step. One gesture after another that stops violence, war, anger, fear from growing. One word after another that flows away from hatred into acceptance of one another as human beings, each of us worthy of dignity, kindness, generosity of spirit and Love.

You build a kinder world by becoming and being and giving only your best. by choosing to step away from calling people names. By choosing to stop repeating words of anger, hatred, disgust about people whose only crime is to be different than you.

You build a kinder world by no longer buying into the belief that to have it all means someone else has to have nothing, or is nothing more than a piece of flesh here on earth only because gravity won’t let them go.

You build a kinder world by moving into compassion. By seeing through eyes of love into the hearts of those around you knowing, their hearts, their blood, their bodies were created in the same way yours and mine were created. Through the miracle of life on earth.

We are all part of this mystery. All part of the miracle. We are all human beings. You. Me. Them. Us.

Building a kinder world begins right now, right here, when each of us decides to do the kindest thing possible to make peace possible on this planet we share. Love one another as if we belong to one another. Because we do.