The People's Champ

One would think that after its long history of consistently not working to anybody’s advantage, we will have learned by now that fighting hate with hate does not work but, here we are.

1. What is just - if one is fighting for equality, is one entitled to fight for that equality in exclusivity, and disregard all else, or are we to grant this plea for equal rights equally to all those concerned, whether we are on the same side or not?

2. When was the last time you said something you wish you could take back, but couldn’t, so instead you apologise towards those you have hurt, and still had the gnawing pain of hatred (that is so arrogantly defended by the previous pain you have caused (and apologised for)) thrown at you?

3. When was the last time you said something you regretted - because you were misinformed, overly emotional, trying to be profound (and so you ended up using wrong facts as figures (that were eventually corrected)), apologised (and presumably, meant it), and had the graceful kindness of those you have done wrong wash over as they forgave you?

4. When was the last time you took a stand, and while doing so, looked around you and recognised other people taking stands of their own - some in accordance and relation to yours, others against, in complete polar opposites, or not at all linked to what YOU were fighting for?

5. When was the last time you acknowledged our disparities as human beings with the kind of respect and understanding we so ferociously demand from each other?

6. How many more times will we have to bleed in brokenness from pointing fingers at each other that ultimately only points us all back to what we need to fix inside before we can start parading for changes we EXPECT and REQUIRE on the outside, before we truly learn?

7. When was the last time na pinakinggan mo yung Man in the Mirror ni Michael Jackson? Okay yun.

The reason why we are taught to forgive is because we are capable of forgiving, because we have been forgiven, and because we are surrounded by people we need to learn to forgive.

If it is really love that we are so passionately fighting for, how come we do not recognise it when it is right in front of us? Here is the perfect opportunity for you to show that love truly wins: here is a man who has made a mistake, recognised it, and is meekly asking for you to love and understand him, even as he is only now learning to love and understand you. And yet we turn away and snatch this opportunity to love, by the collar, and smack it against the wall, and watch it until it bleeds in the same colour of hate we have been long fighting for to diminish.

If love truly is what we’re fighting for, how come the second it is asked of us, we turn away in hate?