Is it just me, or is the world coming apart?
You know how when you’re looking so closely at something, you can get so absorbed in it and forget about the rest of the room? Sometimes you can be standing so close to a situation that you can’t remember what the big picture looks like.
I’ve had to take a step back and breathe for a moment as I try to gauge what’s happening in the world right now.
A week ago I finally heaved off a heavy weight I’d had sitting on my chest for months. I sat down and wrote everything I was feeling. It was like mental diarrhea. I just let it all out and onto a word document. Then I debated if I wanted to show it to anyone, who I wanted to read it, and wondered what kind of impact it would have. Because I feel like I’m living in an unusual paradox that allows me to feel deeply from multiple perspectives, I decided to share, hoping maybe it could give some more perspective to others I guess. So I sent it to the Huffington Post on a whim, and they published it on their Parents Blog the next day.
Since then, and unrelated to my confession of emotions, bad news just keeps coming. I can’t open up Facebook without being inundated with hatred and sadness. I know this anger comes from a place of frustration, and sometimes online feels like the only safe place to share it, but my mind can’t take much more poison. Life must go on. I can’t succumb to the sadness, I have two kids who just want to be kids and too much in life to enjoy and celebrate.
Sometimes you’ve got to step back and look at the big picture in order to gain perspective. Prepare for the worst but hope for the best–That’s generally how I’ve tried to do things. There is still so much good in the world. In my community, and in my home. Unfortunately I can’t shield our kids from the bad forever, but I can choose to highlight the good. It’s just that sometimes, being so close to the situation makes that harder to do.
Is it just me, or is the world coming apart?
Excuse me, my tone, it’s been one of those weeks months. I’ll be chipper again tomorrow.
Featured image via.
Tags: difficulties, emotions, thoughts
Thank you for posting this! I think you have a very close-to-home perspective on everything that’s been happening and people need to hear it. I have had trouble putting into words all I feel about the state of racial tension in this country as of late. Thanks for speaking up!
Your article was great and left me teary-eyed. Thanks for the post and for your perspective. I have felt lost on the subject and am constantly reading up on what is going on. I appreciate your perspective so much. I agree, the world is coming apart. Having mixed kids, I feel like no matter what they are going to be judged and it is something that I quite often think about and have already experienced (in a good and bad way), especially since one of my children is light w/straight hair and the others are a lot darker with curly hair.
Wow Jennifer great share I just read it and it is indeed very powerful. I just wrote post myself in regards to the crazy world we are living in. As a mother I feel we must do something! Our children shouldn’t have to grow up differently or be raised differently than the next kid!.
I know what you mean, there is a lot of negativity online. I live in the UK but we have reports on the stories here too and we do have some similar issues here, as I imagine quite a few other countries do as well, so it’s something that people from around the world discuss. I know that we can’t and shouldn’t ignore these issues, it’s important to talk about them but it’s a shame when Facebook pages that are meant to be about celebrating mixed race people and mixed race families (although people often get into debates) have just become all about the negativity and places where people start fighting about racism. I agree that we need to focus on the good too. 🙂
I don’t know how I’ve missed up until now that your husband is a police officer. Although my family is not interracial we are dealing with issues of identifying with the black community as we are a middle class black family living in a predominately white city in South Alabama.
I was raised and have taught my children not to be racially biased however I’ve noticed my son has always shyed away from black children, out of caution of misbehavior. Wow! Yeah…. I know! This is a conclusion he came to on his own. He is now 14 and is not as verbal about his “fear”, but there have been several times I have had to remind him “people see you the same way you see those black children”. From the mouth of my black son “black people are mean/bad.” “Acting black.”
So as I see the news and response of frustration and feelings of injustice, I am sad, however I strongly believe in self government. We are individually responsible for our actions and the way in which we carry ourselves no matter our skin color.
When I look at all that is happening…2 Timothy 3 comes to mind.
It’s so sad that people responded to your honest, vulnerable, and insightful article with any negativity. I am inspired by your courage to contribute your voice on such a charged topic. It’s people like you who keep the world from falling apart.
BTW, it would be interesting to know what your great grandfather thinks of everything that is going on between the Black community and the police. I’m sure he has a rich perspective.
Be encouraged, thanks for sharing.
Been feeling the same way….
All I know is how much I don’t know. Yes, this world is very crazy… and nothing is entirely clear.
I read your submitted article to huffington post. You have a unique perspective and I wanted to say that I really appreciated your candor and vulnerability about your concerns from a mother’s and wife’s perspective. I actually loved the article. I thought it was so interesting to have a bi-racial family view mixed with your husbands job as a cop and the recent events in Missouri. It’s a really fascinating family dynamic. I’m glad that there are woman like you who are actively making a difference within their own home to raise educated and strong children. I’m sorry you had backlash for speaking up. But to me that show’s that what you wrote was important. It meant something. If people love it or hate it, it doesn’t matter because they are talking about it, that means it made them think and left an impression. And in the end you have have to be true to yourself. Thanks for the great article.
Excellent and insightful article posted on Huffington Post. God bless!
I finally read your article. Very insightful!I’m so glad you shared it!