The World is Listening

Are You Speaking Out or Playing it Safe?

With everything going on in the world right now, it is easy to feel like people are not listening. We see people we care for and respect behaving in ways that we had never expected. We see viciousness, divisiveness and minds that are completely closed. Many people on our social media feeds are so attached to their agenda that it seems like they are not listening at all and are being unreasonable. They have a belief and will stop at nothing to confirm that belief. It can be discouraging for social media influencers and people who want to stand up and speak out in any way, when it feels like people are not listening.

The racially charged environment that we are experiencing makes it difficult for some of us to know how to speak out without creating more division. If you are so called ‘white’, you feel the pressure of ‘White Silence is White Violence’ along with the pressure of not daring to say the wrong thing. If you are so called ‘black’ and you disagree with any detail of those who want blood more than change, you are called a ‘Sell Out’ or an ‘Uncle Tom’. When you do not understand something or have a question, you backspace, for fear of all the implications that others may find in your curiosity. It is not that you are implying these things, but that they will find these implications when they aren’t even there.

Why? Because people find what they are looking for. And right now, many people are looking for someone or something—some thought, concept or question to tear apart.

On the flip side, many people are listening more than ever right now. On social media, I see that people are thinking much more deeply about what they are reading or viewing. They are making longer, more thought out comments and having real conversations.

The people we see only arguing and condemning others for their beliefs, are not the only people out there. They are just the loudest. I assure you that there are many more listening than there are shouting. And, the people who are listening to others, sharing their views in a tolerant way and having real conversations are listening in a way that we have never listened before.

People are curious in a way they never have been before and there is a passion and love for humanity behind this curiosity that is powerful beyond measure.

On one hand, what we are seeing from some people in the world and on social media can make some of us apprehensive about what to say or post. It can make us feel like people aren’t listening or that we do not have anything to say that will not be invalidated by the world around us. But in reality, now is the time when the most people are listening.

‘Young’ and ‘old’ people are listening. People of all ‘races’ are listening. Government officials are listening. People of all ‘socio-economic levels’ are listening. Schools are listening. People who never cared about what is going on past their own nose are listening! More people are listening to demands for change than have ever listened in our lives.

People are listening all over the world. And, the world may never listen as much, in our lifetimes, as the world is listening now.

This is the moment .

For those of us who have taken on the mission in life of bringing positive change into the world and the lives of others, this is the moment we didn’t know we were waiting for.

For those of us who have spent years and thousands upon thousands of hours building our social media presence, studying, writing and perfecting our crafts in order to reach people, this is the moment we didn’t know we were preparing for.

The argumentative, unreasonable, divisive, vicious and fear driven people are out there, foaming at the mouth, ready to attack any views that challenge their world view. Nothing can be done to change that, right now, in this moment.

There are people out there who need to hear your voice — people that need to know they are not alone. There are conversations that need to take place so we can evolve — conversations that will never happen as long as we are tiptoeing around our truth.

The question is, will we be silent for fear of adversity or will we stand up, speak out and let our voices be heard?

Written by Holly Kellums

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