Mutual Respect
This post is dedicated to all of the moms that I may not see eye to eye with...
There are a few topics that you will never see me debate on my blog. One of them is vaccines. It's not because I'm afraid to tackle the hard topics. It's because I am afraid of something that I may say silently hurting you.
I realize that I have touched on this before. But, today and several times over the past few days I have seen friends get hurt over someone else's blind quest to be right. I feel like I need to clarify some stuff. Both in my own thoughts and publically out of love for them, my fellow moms. Although I will be talking about vaccines, you can apply it to anything. You know, the triggers... breast feeding, natural births, cloth diapers... I think that you get what I am saying.
Okay, back to vaccines. The one reality about vaccines, the one that we can all agree on, is that people who don't vaccinate do it out of love for their kids. People that do vaccinate, again, it is out of love for their kids. I am not saying that it should be swept under the rug or that it shouldn't be debated. What I am saying is that what we should NEVER do is attack people. Ever. Period. Once you cross the line and start using words like "ignorant" and "uneducated" you have lost. They have lost, everyone loses.
This morning I didn't jump in where I should have the way that I should have. Some really kind and loving people got hurt. I have been in the reverse roll. I have had to physically walk away from conversations because they were ripping into people who vaccinate and have hospital births. Guess what? It hurt, it still does hurt. At some point we, as a society, have crossed over into a place where there are different groups of parents that sit around slinging preverbal poo at each other. It has to stop one conversation at a time.
The TV news outlets are known for their fear mongering. It's funny how, as humans, it seems okay if it is in line with our own beliefs. I am guilty too. Right now they are using an outbreak of Measles at Disneyland as a way to divide us. Instead we need to be focused on what has brought us together to begin with, our children. In my particular situation, my autistic child. We must approach each other with the same level of respect that we would like in return. We are all doing the best that we can with what we have. Let us join together, to create a better world for those generations who will follow.
There are a few topics that you will never see me debate on my blog. One of them is vaccines. It's not because I'm afraid to tackle the hard topics. It's because I am afraid of something that I may say silently hurting you.
I realize that I have touched on this before. But, today and several times over the past few days I have seen friends get hurt over someone else's blind quest to be right. I feel like I need to clarify some stuff. Both in my own thoughts and publically out of love for them, my fellow moms. Although I will be talking about vaccines, you can apply it to anything. You know, the triggers... breast feeding, natural births, cloth diapers... I think that you get what I am saying.
Okay, back to vaccines. The one reality about vaccines, the one that we can all agree on, is that people who don't vaccinate do it out of love for their kids. People that do vaccinate, again, it is out of love for their kids. I am not saying that it should be swept under the rug or that it shouldn't be debated. What I am saying is that what we should NEVER do is attack people. Ever. Period. Once you cross the line and start using words like "ignorant" and "uneducated" you have lost. They have lost, everyone loses.
This morning I didn't jump in where I should have the way that I should have. Some really kind and loving people got hurt. I have been in the reverse roll. I have had to physically walk away from conversations because they were ripping into people who vaccinate and have hospital births. Guess what? It hurt, it still does hurt. At some point we, as a society, have crossed over into a place where there are different groups of parents that sit around slinging preverbal poo at each other. It has to stop one conversation at a time.
The TV news outlets are known for their fear mongering. It's funny how, as humans, it seems okay if it is in line with our own beliefs. I am guilty too. Right now they are using an outbreak of Measles at Disneyland as a way to divide us. Instead we need to be focused on what has brought us together to begin with, our children. In my particular situation, my autistic child. We must approach each other with the same level of respect that we would like in return. We are all doing the best that we can with what we have. Let us join together, to create a better world for those generations who will follow.
This is such a good post Jessica. I wish everyone could see that when we stop ripping each other apart we're all so much stronger!
ReplyDeleteYes, so very true. Today I resolved myself to not be that silent observer.
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