If there is one thing we can all agree on, it’s that nobody ever wants to be victimized by another person. Like we have talked about so many times before truthfully with what we all already know, everyone wants the same thing.

Each and every one of us wants to rise up bright and early each morning after a wonderful night’s rest and get after whatever we need to take care of in the day.

We want to go to work and feel safe and supported like we matter. We want to bring home that hard earned paycheck and make sure that ourselves and our families have everything they need.

A reliable roof, a dependable vehicle, clean water, fresh food, clean clothes and shoes are all things we are entitled to possess are we not?

Are we asking too much with these things? Certainly not.

Once again, we all want to be able to do these things on a daily basis without infringing on anyone else. All we ask is that nobody try to take away these simple things we work so hard for every day.

In a perfect world, everyone would understand this idea and would rightfully respect it. Given the sad realities of the world we live in nevertheless, people are people and nobody is perfect.

Everyone makes mistakes. After all there is no better teacher in the world than correcting a simple mistake.

That being said it’s time to finally acknowledge that certain things in this world are taught, and cannot be untaught once that seed has been planted within a vulnerable mind.

Everything we know right now was taught to us one way or another, both the good and the bad.

The catch is most of the things we use or the way our brains work is by utilizing something we were shown a long time ago, probably when we were just children.

This is when things get interesting.

Reading is something we hopefully learned how to do long ago. Mowing that lawn or shoveling the snow certainly isn’t something we learned just yesterday.

Also knowing when to say no to what we know is wrong is something we should’ve been taught in the distant past as well.

Notice how we don’t think twice about things we have been using, or even have been thinking for so many years? Of course we don’t. Once again certain things become so ingrained in us that our skills, thoughts, or morals just come second nature. We no longer give them any thought. 

In other words it’s how we were raised, and we were all raised differently.

Unfortunately the truth is certain beliefs and behaviors that most of us would not consider acceptable become the total norm for others.

Think about that for a second.

Whenever we see something in modern media, or even just in local police reports of someone having another run in with the law, we can’t help but ask ourselves why someone would do this.

So much of the time we like to find something, or someone to blame when an unjust happens to us.

As so many of us are probably too familiar, that is perhaps the most problematic place to be in our own minds.

A crime was committed against us and our loved ones. Now who is to blame? Someone needs to pay the price! How many were involved? Who was it? Who are they? Where are they from?

These are all things we ask ourselves when we feel we’ve been victimized, and you wouldn’t be wrong in asking these questions initially.

Perhaps the answer to those questions do not lie within a group of people. With that they probably don’t lie within a particular religion, an ethnicity, or within a political party.

There are some historical exceptions to the latter, and they are not what we are talking about right now.

What we are in all actuality talking about are criminals. The reality is that these behaviors were learned and developed over time in possibly some of the most undignified ways. Criminality and behaviors as such are learned just like anything else in this world. 

Despite our differences and as much as we occasionally like to argue our point of view, the one thing that everyone should be able to agree upon is an intolerance for criminals.

Do not confuse criminals with religion, politics, ethnicity, or everyday morals and values. That could not be further from the truth.

It’s very easy to feel a strong sense of anger towards another when a crime or something unlawful has been done to us. This is normal, and you would have every right to feel this way.

That being said however, we cannot let that anger develop into hatred.

Hatred is a dangerous thing, and only brings more. Do not fall into that cycle.

Here are some examples of what we are talking about.

Who bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City? Two white guys? No, two criminals did that.

Who hijacked commercial aircrafts and crashed them into the Twin Towers? Arabic Muslims? No, a group of criminals did that.

Who brought dangerously addictive drugs into our streets? Medellin Colombians? No, a gang of criminals did that.

We simply cannot look down on an entire country, religion, or group of people because of the heinous acts of a rare few. With nearly eight billion people living on our planet right now as we speak, very little of them have any desire to hurt someone else for absolutely no reason.

The individuals who committed those acts as previously mentioned once again are not a particular group of people. Obviously the hatred or greed in their hearts was taught to them unfortunately by other criminals, who tragically had the same twisted thoughts.

It was because of their hatred that led to their own demise and the demise of their families. As we now know, history has not and will not be kind to people who commit violent and hatred acts such as these.

Conceivably now we see how it works and where it goes. Hatred and intolerance are taught, and very sadly can grasp those who have been victimized. Yet it is not a skin color, or spiritual belief that causes that confusion to lead to more hatred.

They were criminals, and we need to know the difference.

Do not let the selfish acts of a few criminals lead you down a path of hatred. It’s only going ricochet back to you, and everyone you care about.