We are always more inclined to embrace traditions that are entrenched in our way of life. Change is hard, and drastic change is even harder. Change precipitated by societal ignorance is especially difficult, but not impossible. You can't possibly know what it's like to be a person of colour or first nations if you aren't a person of colour or first nations yourself, for example.
I had a long, serious think about how I felt just about tearing down monuments to past leaders who no longer meet our evolving measuring tape of decency. Is it worth keeping monuments to people to preserve history? There are no statues of Hitler. Have we forgotten about him? No, we have not.
It's much easier to dismiss, reject, make excuses against, challenge, resist, fight and curse change. But it is necessary. We are not a perfect society, far from it. But we must evolve into better versions of ourselves if we want society to continue as a sustainable, desirable thing.
We must always remember, genocide was once acceptable by our ancestors. Slavery was once accepted as normal. Religious inquisitions were a part of life. Being a single mother was considered grounds for being shunned from society and suffering forced adoption of their children. Mixed race marriages were taboo.
Look how far we have come. Some day, we will look back and wonder how people tolerated gender and racial inequality, domestic violence, harassment, abuse of power and religious superiority complexes. It is up to us to make these changes a reality. But you can't do it on your own. Change requires discussion, awareness, empathy, honesty, and humility. It's not easy. But I remind myself that it's not easy for people who were, and still are, victims of various kinds of abuse just because they look or sound or live or love different from me.
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