Looking Through A Fractured Lens

We appear to be in something of a pickle. We appear to spend more time trying to undermine each other rather then empower. Perhaps this has always been the case and I've not been paying attention, yet I sense things are worsening now. Full disclosure; I am a middle aged white man, so in the eyes of many Satan. Me and my ilk are, if you believe all you're told, responsible for every ailment in modern society. We are racist, mysogynist, cruel, thoughtless, and devoid of anything close to a moral compass. We're somehow at fault at all times and in all places. We're guilty to the core, unrepentant and beyond salvation. We're every pantomime villain you ever conceived of and so much more beside. We're not perfect, I grant you. In my line of work I often see men at their absolute worst. But, and this really matters, I would suggest that we're not that bad. It's Ok, I heard the audience gasp, too. Yet amidst the tyranical and cruel and unthinking males of the world exist a significant number who want to see not just themselves but others flourish. For my part, I want to do no more than live my life without doing so at the expense of other people, and if I can, along my journey, help and encourage and inspire others then that would be just fine. What I'm going to suggest is that we all need to be a little more discerning in our judgements. Not all people are alike. We need to take each individual on their merits, irrespective of gender or race or ideology. When we do that we are being fair minded. Being reasonable. Being kind, even. Yes, there are bad men out there. Women too. There are black racists, white racists, wonderful people of faith and terrible one's. Give someone chance to breathe and they might just surprise you. One word of caution however; there appears to be a bias in the media that is almost wholly agenda driven, and it is too easy to be swept up in this. The solution is simple. Expand where you get your information from, irrespective of your existing affiliations. Think outside your own box, challenge your own assumptions. More than that, have the openness to recognise that we all have plenty left to learn. And prepare to be wrong, and humble in the face of this. We are not the centre of the universe, but merely droplets of humanity amidst an ocean of existence. We might all be bobbing around in the same ocean, but the tide isn't always the same.