I See Things Differently Than Most People
--What's wrong, is wrong--
A character in a show I was just watching said something that really spoke to me. This young girl’s family was incredibly powerful and influential. She talked about how she could be as selfish as she wanted to be - how children would twist justice in front of power, and adults forgive mistakes in front of power. And her brother, who everyone in the family but her treated like shit, told her with guru-like simplicity that what's wrong, is wrong.
It really spoke to me, because it’s a trap that we all fall into sometimes. I know I have. How many of us can honestly say that we haven’t seen something that we *knew* in our bones was wrong, but we just accepted it as part of how things are. How many of us have looked at the same kind of ugliness happening again and again, and done nothing. No, not just done nothing - but actively discouraged others from doing anything because we’re sure that doing anything would be pointless. How many “accepted” things in the society around you are things that you *know* in your heart are wrong? At what point did the sight of those ugly things stop touching you?
What’s wrong, is wrong. It’s not always easy to tell the difference between what’s right and what’s wrong. It’s not always easy to tell the difference between something that’s wrong and something that’s just different from what you’re used to. Sometimes we fight for what’s wrong because we're convinced that it’s right. Sometimes we hold back from fighting for what’s right because everyone around us convinces us that fighting for it would be pointless. Some people draw rigid lines, and see everything as black and white. Some people insist that every path is okay, and refuse to condemn anyone or anything.
But wrong is wrong. Just because everyone gets so used to something ugly that they stop noticing it doesn’t make it okay. A frog in slowly boiling water still gets burned alive. Just because everyone around you accepts something doesn’t make it acceptable. Surrounding yourself with people who are as sick as you are doesn’t make you well – it just draws you deeper into your sickness.
The bullies, subtle and overt, that we all deal with in the work world, the abusive bosses that we all have to deal with sometimes, the lies, large and small, that most of us tell every day without thinking anything of it, the manipulation and self-serving pretense that claims to be for your sake, but really it's for theirs. We all just accept it. We all just recognize that that kind of ugliness is just how the world works.
There is incredible beauty in this world. There are so many people who are willing to sacrifice for the ones they love, or sometimes even for strangers. So much love and connectivity and kindness that happen every day. There are rays of hope that appear in our darkest hours. There is so much light in this world that it's almost blinding sometimes - but it just takes a few toxic people to make a situation ugly, despite all the light.
But wrong is wrong. No matter how much society accepts its own rotten parts, those parts are still rotten. I think that it's important to remember that, so that when we get the chance to actually do something about it, we'll embrace that opportunity, instead of just letting it pass us by. This world can be better than it is. It can, as long as we remember that wrong is wrong.
A character in a show I was just watching said something that really spoke to me. This young girl’s family was incredibly powerful and influential. She talked about how she could be as selfish as she wanted to be - how children would twist justice in front of power, and adults forgive mistakes in front of power. And her brother, who everyone in the family but her treated like shit, told her with guru-like simplicity that what's wrong, is wrong.
It really spoke to me, because it’s a trap that we all fall into sometimes. I know I have. How many of us can honestly say that we haven’t seen something that we *knew* in our bones was wrong, but we just accepted it as part of how things are. How many of us have looked at the same kind of ugliness happening again and again, and done nothing. No, not just done nothing - but actively discouraged others from doing anything because we’re sure that doing anything would be pointless. How many “accepted” things in the society around you are things that you *know* in your heart are wrong? At what point did the sight of those ugly things stop touching you?
What’s wrong, is wrong. It’s not always easy to tell the difference between what’s right and what’s wrong. It’s not always easy to tell the difference between something that’s wrong and something that’s just different from what you’re used to. Sometimes we fight for what’s wrong because we're convinced that it’s right. Sometimes we hold back from fighting for what’s right because everyone around us convinces us that fighting for it would be pointless. Some people draw rigid lines, and see everything as black and white. Some people insist that every path is okay, and refuse to condemn anyone or anything.
But wrong is wrong. Just because everyone gets so used to something ugly that they stop noticing it doesn’t make it okay. A frog in slowly boiling water still gets burned alive. Just because everyone around you accepts something doesn’t make it acceptable. Surrounding yourself with people who are as sick as you are doesn’t make you well – it just draws you deeper into your sickness.
The bullies, subtle and overt, that we all deal with in the work world, the abusive bosses that we all have to deal with sometimes, the lies, large and small, that most of us tell every day without thinking anything of it, the manipulation and self-serving pretense that claims to be for your sake, but really it's for theirs. We all just accept it. We all just recognize that that kind of ugliness is just how the world works.
There is incredible beauty in this world. There are so many people who are willing to sacrifice for the ones they love, or sometimes even for strangers. So much love and connectivity and kindness that happen every day. There are rays of hope that appear in our darkest hours. There is so much light in this world that it's almost blinding sometimes - but it just takes a few toxic people to make a situation ugly, despite all the light.
But wrong is wrong. No matter how much society accepts its own rotten parts, those parts are still rotten. I think that it's important to remember that, so that when we get the chance to actually do something about it, we'll embrace that opportunity, instead of just letting it pass us by. This world can be better than it is. It can, as long as we remember that wrong is wrong.
36-40, M
