Let everyone sweep in front of his own door and the whole world will be clean.
--Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Today’s society is highly critical of everyone within it. Everyone is more than happy to point out what everyone else is doing wrong. More and more we see groups of people banding together to shout about how other people are wrong, either in their beliefs or actions. Ok, we have the Freedom of Speech here in the great US of A, but, don’t take it too far. It’s one thing to express your own beliefs, it’s another to try to press them upon others. Freedom applies to everyone in this country. So just as much as you have the right to say what you will, or believe what you will, so does the person next to you even if it is completely the opposite of what you feel.
If people spent less time making show of their beliefs, and more time on perfecting their lives, we’d all be happier. Each of us has our own life, our own world or bubble, where you do what you choose, and believe what you feel. Because we are a social race, we must interact with other people, but that means running into people whose bubble doesn’t match our own. This is fine, as long as we don’t try to burst the other person’s bubble. As long as we stay steadfast in our own individual beliefs, than our bubbles will simply bounce off of each other, each remaining intact and strong. We can interact, and yet remain free with our own ideas. This would be ideal.
Unfortunately the majority of people in our society feel that because they have the freedom of speech, that they must use it to tell the world what they feel. Which, this is all fine and well, as long as they don’t expect everyone around them to agree. But this is usually not the case. Usually these demonstrators are out to try and change everyone else’s beliefs. This then is going to far, because now it is infringing upon other’s same right to freedom of religion, speech, beliefs etc.
Our emotions tend to drive us. When we truly believe in something we want everyone too, this is understandable, it is human. But also as human beings we must take the time to think. To realize that other people have the same rights as we do, but not the same hearts and minds, therefore our visions differ.
As well, we should always make sure that if we are going to point fingers at others, that we first check our own selves to make sure we are not doing the same thing. All too often we see people loudly prosecuting others for beliefs or actions, and yet behind their own closed doors, they hide similar beliefs or actions. We are much too concerned with reputations and appearances, which makes us hide what we really are and join with the majority to proclaim things that sound right but are not what we feel.
If everyone were to hold to their own beliefs without trying to affect others, we could be a more harmonious society.
Now granted there are exceptions, which is to be expected. Certain things that harm people do need to be changed. But I’ll go into that more later.
