One day, they might diminish. The world somehow dwindles the value on respect and the value on honor. The value on kindness, even. It seems that now, in the quickening pace of the changing world, people pick and choose who they will be kind to. Who they will respect. Who they will honor. Who they will protect and defend. And even what for that matter. This is a nightmare that I have.
Can you picture a world where no one respects another? Where no one truly holds to values?
Well. Picture This.
A group of high school students sitting at a lunch table. They wear expensive clothes, they have expensive things. They come from well-known families. They are popular. Across the lunchroom sits a lonely kid, no one to talk to; no one to laugh with. To the popular, he looks "socially awkward," but maybe he's just like the nerds I discussed in my last post. Maybe he just doesn't know anyone to talk to; to share his passion with, yet. But the popular kids won't talk to him. Never. This kid is too weird; too awkward.
Respect. Honor.
One day, they might diminish.
This is a nightmare that I have.
Picture This.
A woman, feeling independent, feeling liberated, and who is not about to be under the rule of "any man" turns against her husband and yells at him day in and day out. Who is the one ruling in this situation? Who is the one discriminating?
Respect. Honor.
One day, they might diminish.
This is a nightmare that I have.
Picture This.
Someone, race, ethnicity, gender, nationality aside, is pushed aside while attempting to walk into a building.
Respect. Honor.
One day, they might diminish.
This is a nightmare that I have.
Picture This.
Some discuss racial groups. Some discuss gender groups. I don't care about groups. I care about people.
But I believe in hope. Martin Luther King, Jr. Had a Dream. My nightmare doesn't have to be a nightmare. It can be a dream too. I believe in hope. I believe in the possibility of happiness, of joy, of respect, of honor, of kindness. I believe in honesty, I believe in responsibility. And I believe the world, too, can accomplish joy. Have faith, have hope.
"I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight!! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand..."
- Aragorn, Speech at the Black Gate,
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
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