We’re All Monsters ~ (just a little bit of a rant*)

When I was a kid and saw the movie Frankenstein, I was heartbroken at how the monster was treated. I think by that point in my life, I’d been the outcast enough to feel some sympathy with his alone-ness. And I know that I had learned to growl and run away.

I still fear the mob mentality.

I fear it when it’s wielded against “my side” and I fear it when it’s wielded against “the other side”. It’s scary because it’s out of control and so easily manipulated. It’s like the Hundredth Monkey, only really really unhelpful.

The root of the issue feels like the unwillingness or inability to drop down a level and find the connection between things. To see the common humanity or zoo-manity or whatever. It looks like name-calling and contempt. It’s hateful.

Not every conversation we have needs to be had in public. Not every disagreement needs to be paraded through all social media, gathering pitchfork-wielding hangers-on. It’s disconcerting how often this happens.

If I have a troubling interaction with someone and I do share about it, I don’t want my friends (or whoever) to exacerbate the problem. I’d like my friends to say to me, “Wow, that is sucky…” without calling the person involved an ignorant bitch or a stupid a**hole.

I’m not advocating rolling over and submitting to the dominant force. I’m advocating intelligent discourse instead of name-calling. Checking in with our own motivations (Fear? Ego?) Taking the High Road. Too much energy is wasted in little spurts of misplaced outrage and we lose potential allies.

There really are monsters out there that we will need to fight over our basic human needs. They are big monsters and it will take a lot of us to win. Let’s not alienate each other over small differences. Let’s invite the little “monster” to the table and find a way to communicate.

Wouldn’t it have been super-cool if one person who had an interaction with Frankenstein’s monster came to the village and said, “Hey, I saw a monster and they growled at me!”, and all the villagers said, “Wow, that’s strange. A monster, you say? Let’s go see what we can do!” and they grabbed food and medicine instead of pitchforks.

We’re all monsters to somebody.

(NOTE: I understand that there are struggles that I know nothing about, that I could never know about on a deep level. I honor those who are fighting on the front lines of this and that battle against oppression (there are many).)

*Okay, guys, I know I’ve been off-topic a lot lately.  Lots of thinky-thoughts.  But, I’m going to write about my new chickens this week so stay tuned!

Image courtesy of shutterstock.com