Last night Cory and I watched X-Men: First Class. Not so great in my opinion. The first two were the best. But it got us to talking. I guess he had watched a documentary on it and found out the comic book was actually spurred by the civil rights movement but the creators wanted to show that it is not just about race, but accepting people and all of their differences. Interesting right? Its almost like we get so focused on the specific differences we are not supposed to single out, that we do it even more so.
That then got us talking about being aware of groups but still leaving judgment to the individual. You may have met Cory before, you may have spoken to him and learned some things about him. Some of which might be that he is a marine, he went to Iraq, things went down and he is medically retired. He is not a big fan of those whom he had to fight against. But that right there is the key. Those he HAD to fight against. We both talked about how we feel it is all too common these days to generalize. Such as, "All those in the military are mindless drones who kill because they think it is fun. They don't care who are what." or "All military people hate Muslims. They don't give them a chance." or, as Cory pointed out some people who have never even fought in this war think, "All Muslims are terrorists." None of which are true.
Cory discussed with me how frustrating it is at times for people to lump him into the group of those who kill just to kill. He said that, while he talks about going back and killing people, it is to protect those he cares about. His friends in the military, his friends in Iraq that he made. Yes, his friends in Iraq. He made friends there. He has a picture of a friend from the Iraqi military in his wallet still. If people stopped threatening the quality of life and taking innocent lives for selfish reasons, he would have no desire to do so. He does not view his job or his actions as something he does or did for fun. It is something he sees as necessary for the protection of the things he loves most. And he was and is willing to die for them.
I saw some kind of Ron Paul add, and this has nothing to do with political anything, just the add. Talking about how we should imagine what it would be like if China just suddenly decided to occupy our country and they killed innocent people for no reason. It basically makes it seem like all the retaliation is just because we are being big bullies for no reason at all. When, in reality it is not that way.
Why can't anyone accept that it is not just black and white? That it is not just about race, religion, sexual orientation, look or ability. It is people, we are all people and need to be willing to accept each other . Is it smart to be weary of certain groups to an extent? probably. We do need to be smart and aware of possible threats, but be willing to find the good as well. Just because some guy with brown hair and blue eyes did something bad does not mean all guys with brown hair and blue eyes will do the same thing. Be open to letting people show you how good they can be. It is not about one kind of person or one group and how you should treat them. It is funny that X-Men and my husband has taught me this more than anyone else.
1 comment:
Agreed. And just because one medically retired marine chooses to fart while squatting over a trash can DOES NOT mean that all medically retired marines will.
Thanks for the inspiring post!
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