Today is National Stop 🛑 the Violence Day
We live in a society that glorifies violence.
Can we admit that?
We are entertained by it. 90% of movies, 68% of video games, 60% of TV shows, and 15% of music videos have some form of violence. And that was 2018 for those stats.
Gun violence, rape culture; we pay to watch battles. We are into power and control. I’m old enough to remember dance battles. Can we go back to that? Let the dance battles not just be for the stars ✨ Whether it’s on the field, in the ring, on the ice, on the gram; battles are entertaining to us. The bloodier the better. Whether it’s physical or words; we get off on it so much that we don’t realize what we are turning into. We are turning into people who could watch someone being murdered right before our eyes and not do anything about it. Just go on with our lives like nothing happened.
I’m reminded of the frog 🐸 that was boiled alive because he didn’t know when to jump out of the pot. When he realized he was being cooked, it was too late ⏰
I feel that’s our society. We are slowly becoming more and more numb and desensitized to the violence around us that the time to fix it is long past. We complain more about the suggested solutions than the actual problem. Is it that we don’t want change? This violent culture has become comfortable? Like family? Like being in an unhealthy relationship? It’s what we know.
But sometimes, you can’t truly see a thing unless you are removed from it.
So, like the frog 🐸 who couldn’t feel the water getting hotter and hotter until it was too late; some of us can’t smell the fire 🔥 because we’ve become too used to the smoke 💨.
I pray 🙏🏾 for us to STOP 🛑 the Violence.
It starts with us. Recognizing it and acknowledging it in us. In our speech, in our humor, in the way we raise our kids. Let’s stop 🛑 the violence.
“You don’t want this smoke!”
Apparently, we do. Apparently, we do.
A favorite episode of mine from The Twilight Zone is called, “To Serve Man.” Everyone had their idea of what that meant. But in one of the final scenes, a frantic woman is yelling, “It’s a cookbook!!!”
Got roasted!
#NationalStoptheViolenceDay #November22 #lorindahawkinssmith #author #playwright #actor #filmmaker #comedian #survivor #domesticviolencewhatisit #shortfilm #thetwilightzone #toserveman #rapeculture #gunviolence #powerandcontrol #1122
Lorinda Hawkins Smith 