Actions Speak Louder Than Words
A high school student objects to the rhetoric of the day
There are some things in this world I do not understand, and don’t believe I ever will. This is one of them.
Since kindergarten, we are taught basic values. Kindness, regardless of circumstances. The value of humanity. Share with each other. Respect those around you. Have empathy. Love. I look around at the world I am growing up in, and I see few of these lessons reflected. Despite being taught throughout elementary school that we should be treating people with kindness and humanity, too many of our leaders seem to have lost those ideals. Why is that? Is it that they did not learn them? Or that they have forgotten them? Or do they simply refuse to prioritize them?
The headlines I see when scrolling through the news are horrifying. There are people who are deported to foreign countries, countries that do not even match their ethnicity. The internet shows videos of children being ripped from the arms of their mothers. Of families being torn apart. What happened to love? To sharing? To respect? To treating people like human beings? Are we no longer capable of even that?
How is it that I, at 15, have a better grasp on these simple lessons than politicians with decades more age and experience? It should be the opposite, shouldn’t it? These are the people we are meant to look up to as our leaders, the representation of a nation we should be proud to live in. I love my country, but I find myself ashamed of its actions and leaders far too often. They are supposed to be my role models.
Actions speak louder than words, they say. So how do you expect us to live by these higher standards we are taught if we don’t see them reflected by the society we live in?
— Name withheld for privacy
This gives me hope for the future. I hope this person leans in and takes part and pushes for change in our country!
Well said, young one, as I have wondered the same thing in my 81 years of life and have come to the conclusion that some folks are not mentally well and have a cognitive deficiency that affects their perception of things that cause them to be hateful and harmful. I truly believe that they are in the minority and yet many are deceived by their wrongheaded thinking . You were taught correctly about treating others the way we wish to be treated ourselves with kindness and empathy so, keep being the good person you know in your heart you were meant to be.