I posted about dividers the other day, and it has become my barometer for knowing a person. Are you a divider, or a uniter — of people, of life, of the planet?
Have you noticed the dividers have taken over the airwaves, sowing discontent? Has it always been this way, or am I just noticing it now? Possibly. Or it could be that social media has given the bigot, the racist and the ignorant a voice. I am sure they were always there. It just seems to have become more acceptable to say the bigoted thought out loud.
I spend a lot of my time replying to bigots online. Yes, it is a losing battle — but it is also educating me about the world, and about how to respond to closed-minded and easily manipulated people. Educating them towards truth. Towards not putting a whole group of people in a single box. Towards compassion, and towards understanding that humanity must unite. One people, one earth. If we let division flourish, we simply continue the wars that ignorance has fuelled for thousands of years.
Unity is the path to peace.
Acceptance is the path to peace.
Compassion for others is the path to peace.
Love is the path to peace.
Removing ignorance is the path to peace.
It is the warmongers, and those seeking power through division, who are fuelling this. I call on every Australian to speak up for unity. Australia has been such an accepting place.
An example from today. I watched a live stream from a protest in Melbourne, where a reporter walked around questioning young people who were protesting against One Nation. The questioning was built to provoke a particular response, to harvest a sound bite, and to produce division. It was an experienced adult using professional technique to outwit kids on camera.
And yes — he was coming from a position of ignorance, and so were many of the protesters. How do we unite those people? That is the question a uniter has to sit with.
I am not here defending the other parties either. They are dividing the nation too: the Voice divided, the argument about stolen land divides, immigration rates putting pressure on people divides, the absence of national celebration divides. They could all do a lot better. That is what my memo on unity is about — Finding Australian Unity.
Deliberate division of the Australian people is dangerous and it needs to stop. On the current trajectory, if One Nation wins, my fear is that Pauline Hanson becomes the divider in chief. See a pattern forming, people. We must unite, not divide — and we must speak up about it.
PS. I edited this post, because my own frustration was dividing the bigots from the non-bigots. How do we find peace? Compassion for all.