I think that at different parts of my life I've believed that people couldn't change. At other points I've believed that all people do is change as long as they're healthy and actively observant and introspective. Finally I believe that I've come to a solid and stable conclusion to this. Remarkably so, the Westboro Baptist Church has helped me come to this conclusion.
If you know of this church you know just how insane that just sounded. This church is the radical group that you may have heard about protesting at funerals of soldiers, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, parents and children as though there is no difference. They spew hate in the name of god, giving the entire world a negative view of this group, occasionally spreading this terrible view to the entire country, or within the country to all Christian groups.
This is a photo of some of the children in the church. The adults involved start spreading these hateful messages to their children from the start, and use these children to spread their hateful ideals.
How could this horrible organization help me come to any healthy conclusion on people and if they can change? Megan Phelps-Roper. Megan has been an active member of the church from the day she was born until just a few months ago, making it nearly 27 years of spewing hate and pain. Then, she left. Anyone familiar with WBC knows that anyone who leaves is shunned, ignored, and treated as a traitor. I'm unsure on what would happen if people wanted to return after leaving, but I'm fairly certain that they would NOT be welcomed back with open arms. Back to Megan. Megan Phelps-Roper was the frontline of social media for the group. She started tweeting, posting on Facebook, making appearances on both news and talk shows (usually with her mother by her side), and spreading the word of the WBC as far and wide as she could. She became the face of the church to our generation, and we all felt a deep hatred for what she came to represent.
Back to Megan. Has she changed or not? My answer and my overall conclusion on this issue? Both. Megan has left this hate filled organization, leaving behind a trail of hurt and sadness that she now recognizes she's caused. She can now see the pain she caused people, and she has made a decision to stop. All of this points to change, right? Except for this one little thing. Megan believed that she was doing the right thing, spreading the word of God, helping people see the error in their ways. In an interview done with her mother while she was still an active member of the church a journalist asked her what she wanted her legacy to be, given the reputation that her family had been creating. Megan told the journalist: "That I treated people right." This girl, spreading pain and hate, believed she was treating people right then. Call it brainwashing, or pure misinformation, but she believed what she was doing was for the country as a whole. She believed that she was helping. Now that she see's things differently she has a lot to consider. She has to figure out how to be a person she's happy with. She has to figure out what -and how- to change.
The point of all of this? People may change. They can change their beliefs, their actions, and their attitude, but they cannot change who they are underneath the layers that they put forward. Megan Phelps-Roper is a person that wants to treat people right. I've always wanted to help people in any way I could. I know other people that seem to only be able to be mean and manipulative no matter what facade they put on or situation they get into. We can change the image we put forth, but we can't change who we are deep down.
With this new realization I've decided that I can only do my best to examine the deeper parts of people when deciding on what level of relationship I want to have with them. I'd like to believe that everyone is good deep down, but unfortunately I've found some people that aren't quite there at the core. I hope that in the future my choices in friends will reflect what I've shared here, and hopefully you will too.
Here's a phenomenal comic, once again from iamarg.com.
It's delightful, and I hope it can make you laugh like it makes me smile, every time!
If you'd like to read more about Megan Phelps-Roper and what she's going through here are a couple of links:
No comments:
Post a Comment