#societyissues

Underrated show.

This is how a good media represantion should be like.

itu kata mereka. mereka mengajarkan kita untuk berlaku seperti itu.

“jangan kebanyakan jadi wakil suara untuk temen temenmu, nanti kamu sendiri yang kena”

seorang yang sudah berumur berkata seperti itu kepadaku. apa salahnya menyuarakan orang orang yang tidak berani menyuarakan dirinya sendiri dengan alasan “takut”. disini aku bukan ingin main pahlawan. aku hanya ingin apa yang kami dapatkan sesuai dengan apa yang kami pantas untuk dapat.

di kenyataan yang lain, butuh tingkatan yang tinggi hanya untuk didengar aspirasinya. butuh dilihat tinggi oleh masyarakat agar aspirasinya didengar.

“mau sampe ginjalku loncat dari tubuhku, apapun yang kukatakan tidak akan didengar oleh mereka”

itu yang selalu kukatakan. memang benar kenyataannya. aku bukan siapa siapa dimata mereka. hanya orang yang menurut mereka ‘sesuatu’ yang akan sangat amat didengar oleh mereka. aneh? iya. padahal disini konteksnya beraspirasi di dalam sebuah wadah yang seharusnya setiap pendapat didengar dan dicerna secara seksama.

“ngapain sih malu? kenapa harus takut? udah ngomong aja gabakal diapa-apain”

memang benar, gabakal diapa-apain. didengar pun tidak.

The other night, my ear caught this very beautiful sentence: 

music is the language of our soul

It’s one of those things you are supposed to avoid at dinner parties, why? Because it is someones beliefs, what they believe to be true, and any argument you have against it is a direct insult of their intelligence. 

With all due respect, I do not intend to offend anybody. 

There is power in religion if enough people believe in it. The issue I see today is how detached we are based on beliefs. Let’s face it, you may not practice everyday, but you identify yourself with a particular religious affiliation. Most likely that of your parents, since growing up they made you attend those religion classes or maybe even a religious school, church every sunday, or just during the holidays. 

And then there are those who identify themselves as “spiritual” which basically means “I don’t practice any religion but I believe there is a higher power”. Being “spiritual” has become more popular in recent years, as we millenialls are growing up and racking up numbers in society’s adults. 

Why is it that some of us identify with a belief system and others spiritual? Probably because you weren’t calling the shots when your butt was being dragged to church on sundays. Or you came from a family who practiced their faith privately but was damn sure to make an appearance at Christmas and Easter mass, therefore you understand the gist of what you believe but only do so because your parents do. 

Think about that for a second, “you understand the gist of what you believe” or at least what you were raised to believe, and some part of you truly believes it. 

I try to break things down as simple as possible, and one of my favorite ways is to compare them to high school. The problem that is most evident to me is the pushing of one’s religion unto another, or isolating oneself from another based on a difference in belief. Basically the bullying someone into doing something they wouldn’t have, e.i peer pressure. Or exiling someone from the lunch table because they are different and don’t fit in. 

Of course this is a super extreme to the actual situation, I don't think anyone “bullies” anyone into a religion, but I definitely believe that some more than others try to push their faith onto others, especially weak others, in the form of speaking of it as a universal truth, and making empty promises in the name of god. And as for isolation, marriage is a good example. Most people marry within their own religion, and if they don’t, one is most likely to convert to the religious affiliation of their spouse. 

There is so much stress put on religion. As if it is the most important aspect of life. It may be difficult to understand, but the unwavering attitude towards religion is one of the obstacles standing in the way of the real change America needs.   

Any one religion is not better than the other because any form of religious practice is one in the same; a school of thought; a belief system in which one chooses to live by. 

That being said, what you choose to believe in is your choice. It does not matter what your parents practiced, or what your grandparents practice. 

It’s a cycle where generation to generation this one religion is taught within your family so it just becomes the norm. But who was the one that made that executive decision? It goes back thousands and thousands of years, and it doesn’t mean its wrong or bad or that you do not believe in it. But it also means that you did not choose what you believe in, someone else did and taught you to believe in it. Who knows if you would have chosen the same path if you happen to know any better the time you were being dragged to Sunday mass. 

I hope, as a generation we bring forth a future that chooses for itself and allows others choose for themselves. A future where what you believe in, does not determine who you are and where you stand in society. 

It matters that you choose what you practice. The first step towards a change in direction is basic physics; a stop in the current direction. I’m sure if you are very very religious this seems crazy, but consider not raising your future children to practice the faith you chose. Rather YOU-without the influence of religious text- raise them. You teach them right from wrong through example, not from a passage. Teach them how to treat people by showing rather than flipping to your favorite proverb. Teach them that no one but themselves save them from the bad things they do on this earth, simultaneously biting your tongue about heaven if you need to. Teach them to think about their actions very carefully, for they are the only ones capable of forgiving themselves, no one else. Most importantly, teach them how to forgive themselves and others, because they don’t believe the same things you do, so although you know they will be forgiven if they ask god for it, they don’t need to know that.  Instead, teach them how to learn from their mistakes through the art of letting go, moving forward, and doing better next time. Let them know they have a reason to be here and only so much time to figure it out. Eliminate the fantasy of heaven and the fear of hell from child rearing. And then, when they are old enough to understand what it means to believe in something, let them decide what they believe in. 

If we, as a generation, can stop going through the motions and actively decide to let our children decide what faith they will practice, then we have a chance of erasing one form of division that this nation is facing. We can’t help anyone if we can’t help ourselves and I absolutely believe it is up to us. We are a divided country in many ways other than religion; wealth, race, education. Not only are we divided, but we allow those divisions to govern our society and we are now suffering the consequences. The steps we take now dictate whether or not we will remain the United States of America or become increasingly divided in beliefs until a Civil War breaks out. 

It’s due to the fact we are following blind or maybe it is we take what is said to us at face value because there has always been a divine explanation for every question we ever asked, nipping any inquisitiveness in the butt thus destroying any curiosity and weakening our power of thought at such a young age.