nursingforsocialjustice

The fatal flaw is believing that someone who does not share your beliefs came to have those beliefs because of some inherent moral flaw. It is an easier conclusion to draw that someone is inherently racist, and that this racism is static…or is it? At the heart of this, I think we all have to acknowledge that whatever we believe in this moment can also be incorrect, it can also be morally wrong, and that if we find out that it is, that we can change our belief, our actions, our words.

Is there something so different between you and I that we cannot meet in the middle? What hope is left when we believe the that the things we understand and believe today are immovable? What hope is left if we do not believe that people can change, that we can also approach a better humanity? If I can deeply reflect, and be open to new ideas, and learn, and embody a different perspective, then surely we all have that capacity. There is something seriously amiss if one holds the belief that they are a spectacular humanitarian, while simultaneously believing those who do not share their moral perspective need to suffer death because of the beliefs they hold. Can we be filled with infernal hate and eternal love at the same time? I do not know, but I suspect we cannot. I suspect the emotion, the energy, the force of the hate may overshadow, perhaps even extinguish the love…but I’m no expert.

And so we arrive at relational ethics. Where context matters, as does the relationship that we have with everyone and everything. I believe that the framework of nursing, which holds principles like compassion, respect, empathy, and social justice at it’s metaphorical heart allows me to deeply reflect on where I need to go as a human being to do the best that I can within this lifetime, and it is not to hate others who do not agree with me. What kind of world do we live in when we only want to be around those who share all of our values and beliefs? The way we move forward is to question what the beliefs are of right now and how we arrived at them. We don’t get there by being angry at everyone who is not like us…

Peace,

Michelle D.