I’m scrolling through instagram, trying to put off the getting ready for bed ritual, and after every black lives matter post, I’m seeing perfect hair, perfect Bibles, perfect homes, perfect smiles, perfect times with friends. 

This sick, materialistic, fake, world we all live in is screaming in my face. And I’m ashamed of myself, because my first thought was, “Just stay out of it. Don’t draw attention to yourself. Don’t pick a fight. Let it go. Let it be someone else’s problem. Just enjoy pretty peonies and forget about it.” 

I make myself sick. 

What kind of world have we created? And let’s not fool ourselves, we are all responsible for this mess we’re in. How can we stand by and let entire groups of people suffer because of the color of their skin? More importantly, why is this even an issue anymore?? 

And when did it become okay to let those in power target innocent people and gun them down? 

We like our stuff. We like to keep up with the Joneses. We hate confrontation. Better to be politically correct than disagree. 

We can’t bury our heads in the sand anymore. Our country, our world is tearing itself apart, and we are all responsible for this. 

We need to put on our big girl panties, toughen up our skin, and stand against injustice. Stand against prejudice. Stand against hate speech. Stand against political polarization. 

And we need to start standing for love. For unity. For justice. Compassion for our neighbors and ourselves. For selflessness and taking responsibility for our actions. We need to stand for freedom. 

At the very least, stand up for something. I’m tired of living in a world full of people so absorbed with themselves and their phones that they can’t acknowledge the horror happening right in front of them. We’re all guilty of this, including me. And it’s time we got over ourselves. 

We’ve let evil thrive. We’ve become complacent. And we need to clean up our mess. Let’s remember not all blacks are thugs, not all whites are good, and not all cops are racist. But we do live in a racist country. And law enforcement does have a problem. It’s time to take responsibility.

You better believe black lives matter, now what can we do to make a change?