We must remember to be kind, always

9 Nov 2016

Be kind

I’m eating the biggest slice of red velvet cake. Cos if there was ever a day for eating a lot of colourful cake, this is it right?

I am so unimpressed with 2016 right now, it’s unreal.

Alan Rickman left us, people are pissed about the Toblerone bar, the UK voted for Brexit... and now, that amazing prospect of the first female president has been snatched away.

Blogs like mine aren’t really supposed to be political. A lot of the blogging world is full of food and fashion and cute pictures and awesome travel suggestions. And I love it. It makes me feel happy and inspired, and fills me with a general feeling of all-round goodness.

But sometimes, on days like today, I feel like posting these things isn’t right. Because when the world is so overwhelmed by a major historical event that has created surges in views we hoped were nearly behind us, posting your next post about how sexy Iceland is just doesn’t feel appropriate.

Thanks to a major signalling failure on the train line, G and I didn’t get home from a gig until 2:30am last night (we got stranded just outside of London and ended up sharing a taxi back to St A with a load of strangers... #katestravelcursecontinues). So when I woke up this morning and saw that the rest of the world had joined the chaos of the trains, I pulled the quilt over my head and stayed hidden away for a while. 

I don’t want to comment on why people voted certain ways. Reasoning for voting, and for making Toblerone bars smaller, are never black and white. But I do want to address the feeling that I am having right now, the feeling that makes me want to hide under my quilt; the feeling I know many, many others are also experiencing. 

That overwhelming feeling that the bullshit is winning. That misogyny, racism, homophobia, transphobia; every single goddam type of discrimination, is coming out on top.

Sometimes it amazes me how we are all just a bunch of creatures on a small planet spinning in the darkness of a vast, vast universe.  And how we waste so much of our short time prodding and poking and twisting at these intolerances that have no basis in logic or reason or decency; if someone could look down on our planet, I wonder what kind of creatures they would think we are.

Creatures of compassion? Or creatures who fight amongst each other because they are scared of the variation within their own species?

It’s terrifying. Devastating. And, at times, it makes you want to give up hope.

This morning, I wanted to stay in bed for the rest of the day. But normal, day-to-day life called in that rude way it always does.  So I went out and bought a big slice of cake.  I lit my favourite candles. I found comfort in talking to my friends and family, and watching the sheer amount of people on social media who felt exactly like I did. 

None of this really solved anything, but it made me remember that there will always be something small to smile about, and that there are a lot of people in this world who are fundamentally decent.

And that’s why we can’t give up hope.

There will always be those who indulge in these illogical and distressing discriminations, and you cannot ignore them.  It’s exhausting and makes you want to scream into a pillow and eat an awful lot of cheesy pasta but we have to remember to stand up to it, to challenge it with all our might. To remember that we want to live in a better world. To remember the type of decent life you want to lead. To remember to smile and hold out a helping hand to strangers. To remember that being the opposite of compassionate and respectful brings nothing but hate and unhappiness.  To remember to look for the good in the world, however hard it might feel.

But most of all, we must remember to be kind. No matter how angry we feel, no matter how confused, no matter how much discrimination is casually splashed about by others.

We must always be kind.

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