"You can truly grieve for every officer who's been lost in the line of duty in this country, and still be troubled by cases of police overreach, those two ideas are not mutually exclusive. You can have great regard for law enforcement and still want them to be held to high standards." John Stewart, 2014

Respect for people, all people, seems to be absent from the conversation when we continually take sides with one and against another. We forget we are all part of a common humanity.

#BlackLivesMatter

#BlueLivesMatter

#AllLivesMatter

Racism is very real and continues to be a problem we can't ignore. Instead of perpetuating hate and anger, let’s seek to better understand the factors like bias and fear that perpetuates the problem.

Whether we are talking about Alton Sterling & Philander Castile, about yesterday’s #Dallas Shootings or about, Muslims, LGBT, or gender, it doesn't matter. Whatever the topic, the conversation always seems to be about "us vs them" instead of being about love and empathy for all.

I don't have the answer but I know it starts with each of us in our actions and our words. As parents we have a responsibility to teach our children to live with kindness, cooperation, love, compassion, and forgiveness.

That's it...

This post originally appeared on maximize-wellness.blogspot.com July 8, 2016