I have done it before and I bet you have done it too. So we can agree that we both need to stop it right? The more I thought about this topic the more I asked myself why as humans we think we can get away with things that have already proved to be problematic. Do you we convince ourselves that we are somewhat different? That something in our DNA allows us to try these things and we are exempt from the consequences. Hilarious huh?

I remember years back when I worked for Fabulous Leisure and Safaris we would go on tours with children. On the day we arrived at our destinations we would gather them around and tell them the rules. We would go as far as telling stories to show how each thing was dangerous, if there is one thing each group was consistent with was doing the things we asked them not to do. You laugh and think, “kids!” But I laugh and think, “humans!”

We speak of changing the world but we choose to ignore the evidence we have right in front of us. We want less prisoners and crimes yet we still choose to ignore their stories. Imagine if we sat down and listened to prisoner stories to map out the patterns, what led them into crime? What are their background stories?

We talk about ending racism, gender-based violence, and femicide yet we refuse to acknowledge the reasons why we ended up here, to begin with. We turn a blind eye and scratch the surface by expressing our outrage via social media because someone died. Yeah, take a video and expose a Karen, and then what? Take photos of how badly he/she beat you up and tell the story only to wait so he/she strikes again.

If childhood neglect, being molested, growing up in a home that is broken, being raised by druggies is the reason why we have criminals filling up the prisons then shouldn’t we be out here making sure that the children we are raising have all these issues dealt with? Shouldn’t we stop hiding family rapists? Shouldn’t more of us sing about mental health?

If street protests haven’t brought change then what is our new plan? Are we going to act like our feet aren’t tired? How long will we be out here screaming and shouting only for things to remain the same? I have to say we do a great job at arguing with evidence. I see MDC do the same thing over and over again, they send people out into the streets knowing very well someone will die that day and no change will follow. You would think they enjoy it.

This is a message for each of us, we do not and can not change things by doing the same thing that has failed before. We need to do better and dig deeper. We may not win in the next 24hrs but it is a great start. I hope I made sense and I hope I opened your eyes wide enough for change to come. CIAO!