On this day...

I really love the "On this Day" feature on Facebook, where you can see what you posted on the same day years ago. I'm really sentimental and often nostalgic, so I love to reminisce on stuff from the past and reflect on what has changed since then...

...Except for today, when I read my post from 11/25/2014, which brought a tear to my eye. It was about Mike Brown's murder and the Ferguson riots. It just suddenly hit me that 365 days later, we as a country are far more divided than even one year ago. The fight for justice and equality has not seen any progress. If anything, we are going backwards. Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, and countless others have joined the list of people who have lost their lives for absolutely no reason. Donald Trump has spread false stereotypes and bigotry towards Latinos and the working class, and amazingly, he actually has full fledge support from many. Discrimination against Muslims is at an all time high. Hatred for homosexuals and gay marriage is rampant. Transgender people even got to see people's true feelings about them come out when Caitlyn Jenner's transition was revealed. The media has made everything worse by not covering positive stories like the Million Man March or pivotal moments like the horrifying shooting of a historic black church in Charleston, meanwhile twisting stories around and manipulating the truth for shock value. People have actively spoken out against the entire #blacklivesmatter movement because they still somehow cannot acknowledge that racism exists, that our system is broken, and that privileged people don't do enough about it; even after peaceful protesters were shot just days ago by white supremacists in Minnesota. And now, we turn our back on refugees fleeing for their lives. ALL of this happened in the last year. I really can't wrap my brain around it. I have never been more hopeless about this country than now.

So this Thanksgiving, I hope those of you who are not burdened by these (and MANY other) events are very thankful. If you don't have to worry about being killed by police or seeing your son lie dead in the street, you're truly blessed. If you aren't treated like a second class citizen, consider yourself lucky. If you aren't regularly judged based on your religion, race, ethnicity, social class, or sexual orientation, you should be very grateful. If your family members are alive and you have a home to celebrate this holiday in, you're doing better than many. But that doesn't mean that this isn't a reality for millions of other people. We live in the best country in the world and we should all be thankful to be here, but we have work to do and us being divided is not helping. So yes, my heart is heavy yet again and yours should be too. 

The most admirable human trait in my opinion is empathy, the ability to put yourself in the shoes of others and feel compassion for them. Imagine if we all said a prayer to make things better, how much love, positive energy and blessings we could send to people in need. Even if you won't take a stand and speak out against wrongdoing and unjust events, please consider praying that this country improves and unites. 

XOXO ❤️