A Change in Perspective

Well, It’s my first turn for a blog. I don’t know what to write about I don’t really want to write at the moment, to be honest. Trying to figure out what I should write about, what I should say. The last couple weeks I have been very reflective. I am working on a project for social studies about a group of people who is highly criticized by most people – including myself.

The project has opened my eyes a little bit. I am seeing that maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to jump to conclusions and judge people. These are people that do really bad things, but maybe it’s because they’re sick and not that “sick in the head” type of sick that we make jokes about – but actually genuinely mentally ill. Maybe even though we feel what they do is so much worse than the things that we do – they really aren’t that different from ourselves at the end of the day. Their struggles and secrets are just darker. I never thought I would say that. I NEVER thought I would feel compassion towards this group of people, but after doing this research project I find myself feeling somewhat compassionate towards them. They are human too.

I know how I feel about myself and how much I hated myself for all the things that I did during my addiction. Maybe they feel that way too. They probably hate themselves for being the way that they are. We can’t control the mental illnesses we are born with.

We can however control our actions. Mental illness should never be an excuse to do harm to other people.

I have been able to seek help for my depression and addiction – because the stigma on these diseases has begun to change. Therefore, I feel safe to seek help. But for this group of people – they are widely hated. Which I think makes it extremely difficult to seek help – at least before they have acted on their impulses and been caught.

I wonder what would happen to this world if we all dug a little deeper before judging. Instead of just encouraging and believing the stigmas that are on so many different people and groups of people – what if we started searching for answers to understanding them a little bit better. What if we began acknowledging that we are all made in the image of God and loved each other – even if for that alone?

Can you picture a world where we seek to understand, rather than be understood. Where we are slow to anger, slow to judgment and quick to love. Quick to Compassion.

That’s all I have for today, guys. Thanks for reading.

-Jorjia