This blogspace was meant to be about introspection and the changes we can achieve if we get more aware about what we do and why. To lead a life we can love, because we are more in charge of the path we take.
Yet, somehow everything I saw happening around me these last weeks gave me a serious wake-up call that introspection and more personal development is not enough. That developing into the best possible me and be most authentic, will never be enough if everyone is allowed to say and do in this society as they please uncontestedly.
I can hear the fear in the shouts of Nazis – and my compassion will not silence me, because racism is not tolerable.
I can feel the rage and desperation of terrorists to change society – and my compassion will not silence me, because harming others in words or deeds is not tolerable.
I can see the discomfort of men working with women – and misogyny is not tolerabel, because while we may have different ways and talents, we have equal rights.
I have no smart idea how to change all this. I’m not protesting in the streets right now and I don’t let this be an excuse for staying silent.
Being a mum, I have the responsibility to raise my children in awareness of what racism, fundamentalism, misogyny and many other “isms” can do to a society and to all our lives. I would ask my grandparents why they have not spoken up more clearly back in 1933. Now it’s my turn and my children do not have grandparents who saw war consciously. They have experienced however the effects in their youth and I’ll encourage them to share what it means to grow up in a country destroyed by ideology.
Let’s all do our share, engage in conversation with our children, let’s not only silently disagree with every-day racism or misogyny.
Let’s be brave and speak up the moment we disagree keeping in mind how much we value freedom of speech and expression.
And here is a link to a good summary of Karl Popper’s Paradox of Tolerance.
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