Saving innocence

I know most will read the title to this and be really confused on what my topic for this evening will be. I have been thinking about writing this article for quite awhile, but have wanted to make sure I had a completely clear head when I did it, due to the sensitivity of what I'm about to discuss. I decided to call this piece saving innocence because I truly believe we can save the next generation from allowing a lot of what is going on in today's society to continue.

Our children are born innocent. They know no sin. They don't know right from wrong, good from bad, black from white. This is the most beautiful thing about a baby. All they know is when they are hungry, when they are tired, what makes them happy, and most importantly love. Everything else involved with a babies development is taught by us, the parents. It's us that teach them what our beliefs are. They see how we react to those that are different from us, and that's what they learn. This is what we imprint on them. Our children aren't born to be racist or to be a bigot. We teach them that. If you think about it, we could learn from our children. All they see is a person they enjoy playing with and spending time with. They don't notice the color of the other child until the parent or another adult tells them it's wrong.

 The racial and cultural divide that is happening now has to be stopped. And it can be. But we as a people need to stand together and put aside all the things that are just defining features of our bodies. We are all made the same, we all breathe oxygen, we all bleed red. It's our time to stand together and save the innocence of the next generation. The ones who don't see the color or nationality of the child they are playing with.

Our society today is dealing with a level of hate and bigotry that hasn't been seen since the Civil Rights Movement. Only this time it isn't just one color trying to stifle the progress, rights and freedom of another. Now it seems to becoming a "every man for himself" movement. And this is what our little children are growing up with. We are currently walking a very fine line to what can only be described as a dangerous precursor towards another civil war. This is beyond color, we are being divided as a nation. There are many opinions as to who is to blame. Is it the whites, blacks, Hispanics, police or government? In all reality it's all of the above plus the media. Yes the media, including social media. With the development of social media we are being fed non stop "news feed coverage" of all the racial indiscretions of the world. Even though most of it  is agenda driven, non complete or flat out false stories. It's still there, all day and night filling up our pages. It's human nature for one reason or another to believe what we see. Even though there are avenues for us to fact check items, we just don't do it. We see it, we believe it.

These same items that fill our news feeds are also filling our children's pages. Do you think that they are fact checking anything? Yeah, didn't think so. All they are seeing are articles about this black man shot this white guy, or this white guy shot this black guy. As a parent, older sibling or someone who just cares. It is our job as a parental generation to make sure our children are properly educated on the dangers of what can only be called "trap media". We are currently allowing media, celebrities and free speech media to influence what our children are seeing and believing to be true. Hate speech is one of the largest issues on social media today. From cyber bullying, to the call for police officers to be killed. We have the power to stop this.  We have the power to Save Innocence. I'm not saying to hide history from our children. Learning from our past mistakes is the only way our children can be better than us. But we have to start taking responsibility and control of what they are seeing, reading and believing. We need to make sure that there is an open line of communication between our children and us. And I'm talking about more than the birds and bees talk. I'm talking about making sure they have access to the complete truths about what is going on in the world. Let them ask the tough questions about racism, inequality, bigotry. Just do yourself and the next generation the favor of giving them unbiased and properly informed answers.

There are multiple movements happening in America today. From #Black Lives Matter to #White Lives Matter to #Police Lives Matter. This could be one of the most divisive, ridiculous things that I have experienced in my life. And yes it's cost me disagreements with those I consider friends. However to me there should only be one movement, at all times, in order to save the innocence. And that is #ALL LIVES MATTER. Violence is violence, it doesn't have a color. It has the offender(s) and victim(s). That's all that matters and even that is too much. So as you read this I just ask that you do so with an open mind and heart. Put your own personal feelings aside and try and think as a child would. Maybe, just maybe then you can do your part to make their lives and yours better and Save the Innocence.