Polaneczky: Stop hating, start loving - too much to ask?
WE HAVE to stop. We have to stop the selective outrage over the loss of innocent lives on both sides of the black-and-blue line.
WE HAVE to stop.
We have to stop the selective outrage over the loss of innocent lives on both sides of the black-and-blue line.
Innocent civilians deserve to end their days in the arms of family. So do innocent cops.
When either don't make it home, we have to stop pretending that one family's pain is greater than another's.
Both weep.
We have to stop with the knee-jerk assumptions, petty outbursts and impulsive reactions that provoke suspicion, anxiety and contempt. When toddlers have tantrums, we give them time-outs. When adults have them, we say they're just "telling it like it is."
But the truth is almost always bigger than it first appears. We have to stop pretending it isn't.
We have to stop using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and every other form of new-age communication as weapons to harass, condemn, divide, and hate.
Social media were supposed to engage us with the world, not estrange us from each other. We have to stop using them to prove we're better than the poor souls we've put in our crosshairs.
When our bile goes viral, we infect the world. It's time to stop shirking the responsibility that comes with that kind of power.
We have to stop refusing to admit when one of our own has done wrong, whether it's an abusive cop or a neighborhood menace.
There's nothing more disrespectful than slinging others a line of bull and expecting them to believe it's honey. And nothing is more stupid, because they will choose their self-respect over our lies every time.
We have to stop accepting that the wholesale slaughter of Americans in Dallas, and Orlando, and San Bernardino, and Aurora, and Newtown, and Everytown, U.S.A., would end if we all just treated each other better. We can treat each other like royalty, but as long as the monsters among us can buy a gun in less time than it takes to get a driver's license, the only time we'll sing "Kumbaya" will be at funerals.
We have to stop choosing hatred over love. Assumptions over curiosity. Judgment over compassion. Lies over truth. Contempt over empathy. Screaming over listening. Grandstanding over humility. Cruelty over kindness.
We have to stop all of it. Because it isn't working. If it were, we wouldn't be a country mourning five Dallas cops who were assassinated Thursday - while protecting citizens peacefully protesting the deaths of two black men by cops in other cities.
We are so, so much better than this. We have to start acting like it, before our aching, black-and-blue hearts break for good.
215-854-2217 @RonniePhilly
Blog: ph.ly/RonnieBlog