Everyone has that story in life...that childhood event that shaped a lifetime. Maybe you were teased in 6th grade, maybe your family setting was less than ideal, maybe something traumatic happened....
What was it for you? What emotional problems did you pick up as a kid? How have those shaped who you are today? Do you plan on giving that to your kids?
Whatever we inherited in life, we're bound to pass on to future generations unless we do the work to fix it.
Just telling ourselves that it'll change isn't enough. Thinking time will heal the wounds isn't enough. Saying it's not a problem isn't enough.
The last place you want to be is the same place that your baggage says you were, and you're destined to end up in that same place, unless you work through the trauma of your younger years.
Are you deciding to change your life or are you choosing to carry the baggage of earlier years?
Whatever you're not changing, you're choosing.
We as a country have baggage. We as a country have a problem.
We have baggage from our younger years as a country, and we haven't dealt with that trauma. We haven't relived those moments. We haven't had the tough talks. We haven't revisited the pain.
Our country has continued to pass down the baggage of racism to our children. Our country hasn't healed the wounds that needed healing. They've grown, they've festered, and they won't go away.
Our country has needed healing for a long time. Our country needs to deal with its baggage.
We'll never find the answer in running away from the problem. We'll never find it in ignorance.
We need to remember the trauma of racism. We need to teach the trauma of racism. We need to talk about the trauma of racism.
For as long as it continues to be forgotten, for as long as it'll continue to be our baggage.
Have the tough talk. Do what doesn't feel natural. Lean into the uncomfortable. Fix your baggage. Fix our country's baggage.