Moon Shine

Give people the freedom to be as they are and demand that same freedom for yourself. Release the need to prove them wrong. Live and let live. Unite in the differences and celebrate your humanness. We all deserve to be on this planet we call home. We all belong here. 
We all look up at the same moon.
~J.V. Manning

I stared up at the moon the other night, mesmerized. Not so much by the moon itself but by the thought that every single living and breathing human on this planet saw the same one. The moon shines on everyone regardless of their past, social standing, religious belief, color, size, sexual orientation or intelligence. It shines down from a sky bigger than we are. Limitless. The moon doesn't care who you are, where you come from or what church you go to. It doesn't care if you are powerful, respected, lost, happy or sad. It shines on everyone, everywhere – all the time.

We all look up and see the same moon.

From New Zealand to Maine; London to China; North Pole to South Pole, your location in the world doesn't matter. From the richest to the poorest; tallest to the smallest; black or white; brown or tan; it shines on all. Married or single; gay or straight; transgendered or gender neutral; man or woman; old or young, all see the same moon. It shines on every church, temple or mosque; pagan circle or chapel; basilica or cathedral.

The Moon is one thing we have that is pure. It is one thing we all look up and see. It doesn't require blind faith, money, particular beliefs or power to experience it. It simply requires you to open your eyes and look up. As I sat there I began to wonder how many souls across the planet were doing the exact same thing and instead of making me feel small, it made me feel connected to everyone.  Whole.

The moon is something every single soul on this planet has in common.
Common ground in a world torn apart by its diversity. 

---

We do not all have to be the same, pray the same, love the same, walk the same path. We do not have be right for others. We just have to be right for ourselves. We do not have to change another human being to make them more like ourselves, we have to change ourselves to learn acceptance. We have to learn that the power of our beliefs is not diminished because someone else believes different. Or that their choices are wrong because they are not the ones we would have made. We are not responsible for the actions of anyone else but we are responsible for our reactions to them. We have to learn to live and let live. To raise our voices collectively when atrocious things happen. We have to learn to unite in our differences when it is for the collective good of all.

So many tragedies all over this planet. So many people hurting, dying and lost. So many who look out to a world filled with billions of people, yet feel so crushingly alone. It makes me crazy to stand on a crowded street filled with people who never look up. I watch the news every night and see our world being torn apart. Greed, murder, poverty, rape, disease, abuse, war, and the power struggles of nations, all contributing to the fall of everything precious on this planet. It breaks my heart and fires up my spirit at the same time. It doesn't have to be like this. Of course there will always be bad, there will always be evil and there will always be people so hell bent on power they do not care who they hurt. But it doesn't have to end there.

If people as a whole would stop trying to remake the world to match their own image and instead allow others to be as they are - just imagine. We do not have to walk like, talk like, think like or be a mirror image of anyone BUT ourselves and the world needs to learn to accept that - from everyone! Seriously. I look at those who condemn others, who bully people to death, who discard entire groups of people; all because they are not exactly like them. Really?! I want to look these people square in the eye and tell them to get over themselves. 

I went for coffee with a friend the other day and as we were settling we both noticed the headline of the newspaper strewn about the table. I made some off handed comment about wishing the media would adopt a balance of bad news and good news. There is so much good being done in the world that we never hear about. My friend immediately fired back that the good never balanced out the bad in real life, so why should it in the media? When I stated that in my humble opinion there was a balance, at times not always, and that it needed to be shouted from the lips of the reporters and not hidden in the back sections, my friend looked at me like I had lost my mind. Then proceeded with the one phrase that sums up everything wrong in this world…

“I’m going to prove to you how wrong you are.”

Therein lies the problem. Neither one of us was wrong. We were both right – for ourselves. However, he felt the overwhelming need to prove me wrong and the diatribe that followed hit point after point, which in his mind, won the fight. Problem was, I wasn't fighting. I wasn't even arguing. Because, I didn't have to. I had no inclination to change his mind. Wasn't my place. He was free to believe whatever and however he wanted to. When I pointed this out to him, he suddenly became silent.

I gave him the freedom to be and think as he was. He did not give me the same courtesy. I am all for healthy debates about things in our lives because that fosters thought and conversations. What I can’t stand is when someone makes it their mission to tell me that what I believe in, hope for or perceive is wrong and base it solely because it is different than what they feel to be truth.  

Truth is relative. Feelings aren't right or wrong, they just are.

Imagine a world filled with people who collectively raised their voices against the atrocities that occur. A world where people felt connected to any and all who were different than they. A world where differences are celebrated instead of argued. A world where people honored their beliefs and allowed others to honor their own as well.  

A world that realizes we really aren't all that different from one another.  

Give people the freedom to be as they are and demand that same freedom for yourself. Release the need to prove them wrong. Live and let live. Unite in the differences and celebrate your humanness. We all deserve to be on this planet we call home. We all belong here.

We all look up at the same moon.