We fight…when we could stop

We fight over things that don’t matter. It’s really just a matter of how long into the future that these things don’t matter.

We fight over imaginary lines on maps. We fight over flags which will be parts of history lessons. We fight over issues and policies that will change. We fight over who is “us” and who is “them” when in the end we’ll all end up dead. We all start the same too.

We fight over things that don’t matter as if they are the most important things in all of creation. We fight over false identities as if they are real.

We fight over money, as if the money we have will always be worth something.

We fight over things that we currently value, but those values will change.

We fight to show how strong we are, but someone else will be stronger soon enough.

We fight over which politician we want to put in charge over us, but they go as fast as they come, ready to be replaced in a few short years.

We fight over political parties that will disappear and be forgotten.

We fight over ideologies that are so malleable that they will take up their opposition’s side on numerous issues in due time. And come back to their original position. And change yet again. All the while convincing adherents of their consistency.

We fight over things that we will look back on in a few years and see how silly the fights were all along.

But it never dawns on us to just stop the fighting. To see the pointlessness of the fighting. To see the futility of the fighting.

Instead of fighting, what if we found a way to get along? What if we found a way to enhance the lives of all people? What if we saw our common humanity that crossed borders, ideology, beliefs, and everything else? What if we just stopped listening to the ones that provoke the fighting?

We might experience peace. We might enjoy true freedom. We might be equal. We might actually do something that lifts people up. We might actually live into the faith we claim to believe in and follow.

But for now, we fight. Even when we don’t have to. Even when we don’t think not fighting is an option. But it is. Maybe we are afraid that by stopping fighting that we will lose our identity. We’ll lose our stuff. We’ll lose our meaning and purpose. We’ll lose.

The only thing we lose when we stop fighting is an enemy. We lose the manipulators having influence over us. We lose abusive systems. We love hatred and fear. We lose exploitation. We lose destruction. We lose violence. We lose so much. And that kind of loss is wonderful.

Do we dare stop fighting? Or are we waiting for someone else to go first? I’m willing. Because I’m tired of the fighting.