You and Everyone Else – Marc MacYoung

You have your anger, so does everyone else.
You have your pain, so does everyone else.
You have your frustration, so does everyone else.
You have your history, so does everyone else.
You have your rationalizations for the bad things you do, so does everyone else.
You have your self-righteousness, so does everyone else.
You have your crosses to bear, again, so does everyone else.
You have your disappointment the world isn’t what you believed, join the club.

But let’s look at this from another angle
Other people are stupid, so are you.
Other people are petty, so are you.
Other people are bigoted, so are you.
Other people are heartless, so are you.
Other people are opportunistic bastards, so are you.
Other people are tribalistic, so are you.
Other people lie to themselves and reject inconvenient facts, so do you.
Other people will attack others to protect their comfort zone, so will you.
Other people resist change, so do you.
Other people put the welfare of theirs above the welfare of others, you do too.
Other people are filled with hate, are you any different?

When we choose anger we blind ourselves to the fact that we are doing exactly the behavior we claim to hate. When self-righteousness and blame are our banners, we ignore we’ve become exactly what we claim to oppose. When we attack others for their beliefs, we’re not ‘right,’ ‘noble,’ ‘intellectual,’ or ‘better’ we’ve sunk to the lowest levels. A level that you want to play using your own rules so you can win.

The problem with this approach is all it does is provoke the worst in others. Now you don’t have people communicating. You don’t have people trying to find a compromise or working solution. You end up spitting hate back and forth with everyone who isn’t just like you. You have fanatics screaming for ‘their own way’ at the cost to everyone else. No matter how much you tell yourself how right or reasonable you are, you have become part of the problem you so decry. Then you condemn others for doing exactly what you’re doing.

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