I used to perceive my enemies and my opposition as the same. I did not know exactly what the difference was so I haphazardly threw them together. Possibly the most dangerous decision I have ever made. I have spent my entire life painting those who oppose my ideas and those who hate everything I am as the same. What a disservice.
I can now see I have no enemy for any human is my brother, the death of one man is in turn the death of me, the hatred of another, simply is the hatred of me too. Something about fighting darkness with darkness right? Well I have hated and I have been hated and I have sinned. Only in my actions can I hope for forgiveness for my past crimes and indecencies.
Those who oppose me, for my ideas, are possibly the greatest gifts I have been given in this life of disillusion. I used to think that if I changed any part of me, that I would be giving up, that I would be weak in my presentation. WHAT A DISSERVICE I HAD COMMITTED TO MYSELF. For as the light has begun to shine on this young man, I have realized that there are no leaders without followers. Followers, not as grains of sand following the currents, not as a tree bends to wind on the peaks of our mountains, but instead, as only men can achieve for greater goods that one man could never bear alone.
I have begun to notice that in politics particularly, it is effortlessly easy to follow blindly like a sheep in a herd. Where followership was never quite that but rather servitude. Slaves to those who we are too afraid to question or join wholeheartedly. Our goals should not change every 4 years, our hopes and dreams should not be so fluid that they can mold perfectly around whichever candidate wears your colors.
“The greater of two evils” is fucking slave talk!
How have we allowed this weakness to pervade our children up to our elderly?
I have never been so happy to say with a smile on my face that we are one. That we are brothers and sisters and that no race, religion, or wealth could make me judge another. I was not put on this great Earth, especially not in a free state FREEDOM to judge, I now understand I am here to lead and to follow in perfect symmetry with those who wish to lead and follow to our collective good.
I read something very interesting that I did not know last night. Did you know that Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. both attempted suicide in their youth? Maybe we aren't as fucked up as everyone tells us we are. This age, these youth, these adults, I am proud to say with every ounce of sincerity that I do not think we are any more lost than any of our predecessors.
This is far from a “feel-good piece”, I will not pat myself on the back for this work. We have much work to do, in fact, if the reader perceives truth in these words of leaders and followers, I beg of you to see these words as a warning and not as some form of “win”. We can easily fall back into the movements if we see these words and say, “thankfully someone agrees with me”.
