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Morose Monday - Sadness Abounds

candle-1239891_640

I don't know what to say.

Why can't all people see how beautiful diversity is? The ability to think differently is a good thing. Having diverse viewpoints solves problems more completely.

I've lived in Canada my entire life. Going on 36 years. I realize that this isn't long to some, but I've never seen such hate. People used to just let others be. Live and let live. There's a synagogue in my hometown of 50,000 and no one cared about it being there. It was just another church. There were many Christian churches of a variety of faiths (Protestant, Baptist, Anglican, Catholic, Born Again, etc) and everyone just did their thing. Hell, I went to Catholic school despite being the wrong kind of Catholic to take the communion host. There was a whole group of us as my first school decided to become 100% French and they sent those of us from English families to an English school. So during mass, we just sat and respectfully watched everyone else do their thing.

I even remember the first black people that came to live there. There were two families and though I was curious, having never seen one that wasn't on TV before, I didn't stare at them because I was taught that it is impolite to stare at someone else for any reason. I also didn't speak unless spoken to. My parents are quite old as you might imagine from that particular rule. So I simply delivered their Sears catalogue and went on my way.

It never occurred to me that there were other people that hated others because of superficial things like skin colour or religion. Or that didn't see them as human. I didn't know then about the Holocaust, the Crusades, the Inquisition, Salem, etc.

I can't even recall much violence other than bullies before high school. It was junior high that the drug dealers came, but most only dealt marijuana. Having worked at the police station there, I know there wasn't a lot of violence happening despite having members of various gangs in the community. The cells usually either had people that were off their medication and causing disturbances, or 19 years olds that couldn't handle their liquor. During my 4 years working there, only two murderers were ever held there and one was from another city.

So I can't understand the need to kill another person, except for a dictator to free his people or someone who is actively trying to kill me.

People praying in mosques are not harming anyone. Neither are people praying in churches, synagogues, temples, groves, etc.

The only thing that needs killing is hate.

Salut,
R~

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