Concerning the Misunderstanding of Ideals

This past Sunday, August 9, 2020, I attended an anti-racism/BLM event organized by a local teen and their family/friends/acquaintances. To all involved, I want to send many thanks for providing our small community the opportunity to learn about an issue that is often forgotten or disregarded where we live. Other than one very tense moment, I believe it was a positive experience for all attendees; we heard from four wonderful speakers and I believe we were bolstered by our recognition that more neighbors than we expected shared our concerns about this particular social injustice.

Overall, I would estimate roughly 100 people came with support, listening, and learning in mind. I was happy to see some faces I hadn’t seen in quite some time, some faces I see often (though not nearly as many as I hoped), and many people I’d never seen before. In the end, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of supporters. Ideally each attendee came away thinking we must educate to eradicate racism. (I thought I was being very original there, but a quick Google search proved otherwise.)

As happily surprised as I was by the number of supporters, I was disheartened by the presence of the dozen and a half who were there for other reasons. I say other reasons because I don’t know their purpose for showing, and therefore, do not feel comfortable speculating. In the days leading up to, and in the day and a half since, I’ve heard different things, but I didn’t have the opportunity to speak with any of them, so I cannot say for sure. However, the vibe they were putting out was less than welcoming. (I know I shouldn’t, but I just have to say...if it was to intimidate the empathetic teen who felt the desire to educate their community about the plight of fellow humans, what you did is childish and characteristically unattractive.) However, regardless of their intentions, it made me wonder, “Are they truly angry that their neighbors gathered to champion anti-racist sentiment?” Am I the only one who finds it odd that this question need be asked? I’ve never understood why showing concern for one’s fellow human beings is something to be frowned upon.

Was it possible these people were misunderstanding our intentions? Did they really think we were trying to foment unrest in our small town? These questions raise an issue I’ve been wondering about a lot recently, one indirectly broached by the first speaker: why are certain stated ideals so misinterpreted? How is it that one can state a simple belief and have it so blatantly misconstrued? Below is a short list of topics that seem to consistently fall victim to this treatment. The first column represents a few of my stated values; the second, my assessment of how those values are sometimes mistakenly interpreted.

My Beliefs	What Some People Think I Believe
Black Lives Matter	White People Don’t Matter
Police Reform Needed1	All Police are Bad Seeds and Police Departments Should be Completely Dismantled
We Need Improved Gun Control	I Want All of Your Firearms Taken From You
Less Military Spending2	I Hate the Military and Anyone in It
We Need More Social Services2	Let Lazy People Live Off of Your Hard Work
Separation of Church and State	Christianity is Bunk

Why is there such a disconnect between the two columns? Sometimes I feel like I’m back in grade school and we’re playing telephone. I whisper in the ear of one of my peers and by the time it gets back to me, I’m hearing something significantly different.

Let me be clear - I do not believe any of the things in the right-hand column to be true. To think I do is not only an absurdity, it’s an insult. The plain and simple reason I hold the beliefs in the left-hand column is because I want to make this a safer and more enjoyable world to live in, not just for myself, but for all of humanity. If that sounds outlandish or threatening to you, come and talk to me about it. Honestly, let’s sit down and have a chat, because I want to understand. There is so much misunderstanding right now. I don’t see how we can make real change (both the changes I want and the changes you want) if we don’t sit down and try to understand one another. There must be some common ground. I’m not one hundred percent sure what that might be, but is it possible our common ground can be found in this simple statement: “I’m just trying to get by”. Anybody else out there feel similarly? Anybody else just trying to get by and hoping to find the best way to do it? I don’t know, maybe that’s naive of me; maybe it’s too synonymous to “Can’t we all just get along?” Then again, maybe that’s my one unassailable delusion of grandeur - that we can all just get along.

1 I just have to say, “Defund the Police” was a poorly chosen slogan. I understand it, but I think it was bound to make people angry.

2 All I want is to spend a few less dollars on weapons of war and then use those dollars for social programs to help those in need - physically, mentally, educationally, economically, etc.