COEXIST

Greetings Steemians,

T'is I, Dan Solo, coming at you once again. Last night's post was an emotionally frustrated rant pertaining to my situation. In other words a selfish post. Tonight I'd like to talk about the current state of the United States of America. I know, do we REALLY need to go there? Maybe, maybe not. But I feel the need to talk about what's going on. Social media seems to be inundated with a ton of posts and tweets about Charlottesville, VA. For those who don't know about what's been happening, I'll summarize. A large group of Alt-Right have gathered from across the country to march and protest against Jews in the United States, while chanting "One blood, One Nation" and "Jews will not replace us". That was Yesterday, August 11th, 2017. As of this writing on August 12th, 2017 at least 3 people associated with counter-protests have been killed. One was as a result of an alt-right supporter intentionally crashing his car into the back of another, forcing that car to crash into the car ahead of it. This chain reaction mowed down nearly two dozen people.

I was born and raised in California, one of the most forward thinking and progressive states in America. I was born to young parents and raised by my father's parents during my formative years. They were born in 1937 and 1939. They taught me to accept people for who they are, treat them with respect and kindness regardless of our differences. I know, this is the stereotypical white male, tolerance and acceptance post. Not for nothing, my actions speak louder than my words. I treat people from most walks of life, all ethnic backgrounds, religions, sexual preference, gender identity and political party allegiance the same way. As though each of these folks were my family. However, as contradictory as this may sound, I do not like bullies, racists, or anyone who harms animals, children, women or elderly in any way, shape or form. Those kinds of people will get an earful, or an eyeful if on the internet, from me. So when I see what's happening in Virginia, which to a lesser extent has been happening all over the country as the Alt-Right movement has been gaining momentum, it breaks my heart.

Barack Obama paraphrased when he quoted Nelson Mandela; "People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love".

One of my favorite songs is Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne, as you can see by my Pinned Tweet above. I'm very outspoken about co-existing and living in peace with people who are different. It's an important issue to me, because I believe that we are truly one people. We are the human race, we eat, breathe, and bleed the same. Skin color, language barriers, religion, sexual preference and gender identity are all individual characteristics that make each one of us unique. An analogy I like to use is what you see when you look at a rainbow. Do you pick one color and say "my, that's a beautiful red"? No, you look at the rainbow and marvel at its beauty as a whole, all colors coming together to make it what it is. You see a rainbow. When it comes to people, we're nothing more than a rainbow, we just need to work on peace and harmony. But we can't do it alone. We need everyone to come together and work toward a common goal, a mutual compromise. End the hate before the hate ends us.

Tonight I will sign off by saying this, appreciate the beauty in life, it's everywhere. Find something that YOU find to be beautiful and "Soak Some Up". Good night Steemians.

Thanks for reading,
Dan Solo