“Of all the weapons of destruction that man could invent, the most terrible-and the most powerful-was the word. Daggers and spears left traces of blood; arrows could be seen at a distance. Poisons were detected in the end and avoided. But the word managed to destroy without leaving clues.”
― Paulo Coelho
― Paulo Coelho
If we don’t hold our “leaders” accountable for destructive behavior what does that say about us? It has reached a point in the United States (and elsewhere) where those who have supposedly been elected to serve the best interests of the people are behaving like the proverbial bullies in the schoolyard. And much of this is being done verbally — language, that in any other context would be deemed abusive, often verging on outright hate speech, is brushed aside for political expediency or as a character quirk. The damage that this now normalized behavior does to the social fabric of a nation remains to be seen, although we are bearing witness to its ugly manifestations almost on an hourly basis now. It’s easy to say “Just ignore it” or “Switch the channel” but that’s often easier said than done given the pervasive nature of this virus. I believe we have a duty to raise our voices in protest and state in no uncertain terms that enough is enough. This is not about politics. It is about common human decency.