Hey guys,
So if you’ve been following @giving.soulfood, you would have realised that I relaunched the account TODAY!!! So if you haven’t followed it, I strongly suggest you follow now because I’ll be posting everyday from today on!!
Like I previously promised as well, I will also be posting a copy of whatever appears on @giving.soulfood here as well, so here it is:D
No two leaves are alike, and yet there is no antagonism between them or between the branches on which they grow.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
If you’re following me on all my other socials, you would have realised that I haven’t said very much about everything that has been happening around the world, from big global issues like George Floyd to smaller things that made Singaporeans sad, like the divorce of Ryan and Sylvia. It’s not that I have no thoughts about it, just simply that I needed a little time to process and pen it down.
And I choose to do this on this platform instead and continue to keep my private account filled only with my happy memories.
With today’s quote, I’m sure it’s pretty obvious which incident I’m choosing to talk about.
I don’t think you guys need to hear from me about what has happened, be it about the incident or about what is going on online now. I’m really just here to share my thoughts on this.
The thing is, it’s kinda upsetting that we have to talk about this at all. As a human race, how is that we are still battling this? How have we not come to recognise and respect the fact that every single life matters? Especially in this Covid season when we are already losing so many lives every day, why are we actively losing more?
The online conversation has largely been centered around the issue of race. And honestly, I don’t really have anything meaningful to add to that conversation, because all that has to be said, all that should be said, has been said.
But I do want to bring another perspective into the discussion, the perspective of humanity. I mean it’s not a completely different perspective but still. In what universe, in which logic, was the way the man was treated, humane? We can talk about doing community service and helping all the various groups of people who may need a little more support all we want, but still, if you think about it, what does it say about us as a human race if we can do all that, but still cannot treat a fellow human being like, well, a human?
Bringing this back to the issue of race, how much does it have to take for us, collectively as a species, to see the human soul under the skin?
Moving forward, I just wanna very briefly talk about what we can do. Some of my friends have tagged me in the chain Instastory thing, and well, I have to admit that I haven’t responded to any of them. Yes, I am that person who broke the chain.
But does that mean that I have a neutral feeling towards this and hence is on the side of the oppressor? No. In my defence, I simply didn’t see what help I provided by continuing the chain.
You may say that the chain helps create awareness, but really? Are the 10 people I’m going to tag living under a rock? Do they really not know what is going on in society? In my opinion, awareness is not the problem here. We are completely aware of what is going on. What we need to do is to take actual steps to help change the situation. And these actual steps don’t have to be big actions. Even if you do not have the means to donate money to help the cause, or you don’t particularly want to sign petitions because you don’t quite see how an online petition is useful, that’s okay. I’m in a very similar boat! Yes, I’m still sometimes a little skeptical about the impact that these petitions have.
Steps can start small. Within your circle of friends, start being a little more sensitive about the jokes you guys make. Be brave and call out friends who may still be a little insensitive. I’m not too sure how much coverage our local news had about this because the news I read was mostly from foreign newspapers, but if there isn’t so much coverage, then share the news with people who may not be so tech savvy. That’s creating awareness because you’re sharing it with people who may not otherwise get the news.
Just like that little cat (swipe left!! or in your case head over to @giving.soulfood), I’m sure we can eventually conquer this whole race thing and start treating each other like humans we all are. We just got to take it one step at a time.
Once again, I’m sorry this first post is on a heavy topic like this and it isn’t very mental health related, but it was an issue I felt I needed to talk about. I’ve started preparing tomorrow’s post and well, it’s gonna be an interesting one, that’s all I can say. Whether it will be uplifting or not I guess, depends on how you see it.
One Step At A Time 