Classmate #1 I have to admit that I struggle with the concept of Agape and the limits of nonviolent protest. I can’t look at what’s happening in the world, past, present, and presumably for the rest of the time mankind allows itself to exist, and believe that just anyone can be swayed with compassion. I see tyrants murdering unarmed protestors as a warning to others who might have the audacity to demand basic human rights. I see soldiers torturing, raping and pillaging out of sadism, boredom and apathy. I see the ongoing erasure of cultural and political minorities in “reeducation” camps. I see people virtually condemned to death because they can’t afford medical care by politicians more concerned with lining their pockets than protecting their own citizens. How can we expect better angels to eventually reach those responsible for all the suffering in our world? How do you touch the hearts of those that lack them? Has anyone tried handing them a  Pepsi  Links to an external site.? To me, it’s naive to assume that everyone will eventually default to the concepts of rationality and conscience that we take for granted in people. I’m not as strong as MLK, and find it impossible to “love” those I consider irredeemable enemies of the human race. Currently, we’re confronted with people who’d rather tear down our entire democracy than watch their team lose for a few years.  When I was 9, I saw planes level buildings and kill thousands of innocent people on television. The most united I ever saw our country was in anger at those who celebrated those deaths in the streets. Now our same countrymen are at rallies cheering for the imagined executions of their fellow citizens because the one elected president 14 years ago didn’t look like them. The entire historical window of my lifetime has been an exhibit of people who cannot be reasoned with, and history tells me this is nothing new. I truly don’t believe there is a way to cure the ugliness that comes naturally to the only species with the ability to use logic and reasoning as a means of mass exploitation, and for me to write anything else would be insincere. Now that I’ve bummed you all out, I’ll get to what I think we can do not to cure, but to manage. It may seem paradoxical, but my answer to building a more caring, loving, peaceful, unified world is simply to fight for it in any way possible. If we can’t cure the hatred and anger in our world, we should harness it against those that seek to divide us. People are never more aligned than when fighting for safety and liberation. Protest, both nonviolent as is posited in our course material, and otherwise, as is the case for those forced to choose between either martyrdom or freedom earned through bloodshed, until ground is gained, and on. I cannot agree that we should submit to suffering without retaliation, or that the lessons gleaned are worth it, as Dr. King said. If violence leads to tragic bitterness, let it be.

1. Classmate #1
I have to admit that I struggle with the concept of Agape and
the limits of nonviolent protest. I can’t look at what’s
happening in the world, past, present, and presumably for the
rest of the time mankind allows itself to exist, and believe that
just anyone can be swayed with compassion. I see tyrants
murdering unarmed protestors as a warning to others who might
have the audacity to demand basic human rights. I see soldiers
torturing, raping and pillaging out of sadism, boredom and
apathy. I see the ongoing erasure of cultural and political
minorities in “reeducation” camps. I see people virtually
condemned to death because they can’t afford medical care by
politicians more concerned with lining their pockets than
protecting their own citizens. How can we expect better angels
to eventually reach those responsible for all the suffering in our
world? How do you touch the hearts of those that lack them?
Has anyone tried handing them a
Pepsi
Links to an external site.? To me, it’s naive to
assume that everyone will eventually default to the concepts of
rationality and conscience that we take for granted in people.
I’m not as strong as MLK, and find it impossible to “love” those
I consider irredeemable enemies of the human race.
Currently, we’re confronted with people who’d rather tear down
our entire democracy than watch their team lose for a few
years. When I was 9, I saw planes level buildings and kill
thousands of innocent people on television. The most united I
ever saw our country was in anger at those who celebrated those
deaths in the streets. Now our same countrymen are at rallies
cheering for the imagined executions of their fellow citizens
because the one elected president 14 years ago didn’t look like
them. The entire historical window of my lifetime has been an
exhibit of people who cannot be reasoned with, and history tells

2. me this is nothing new. I truly don’t believe there is a way to
cure the ugliness that comes naturally to the only species with
the ability to use logic and reasoning as a means of mass
exploitation, and for me to write anything else would be
insincere.
Now that I’ve bummed you all out, I’ll get to what I think we
can do not to cure, but to manage. It may seem paradoxical, but
my answer to building a more caring, loving, peaceful, unified
world is simply to fight for it in any way possible. If we can’t
cure the hatred and anger in our world, we should harness it
against those that seek to divide us. People are never more
aligned than when fighting for safety and liberation. Protest,
both nonviolent as is posited in our course material, and
otherwise, as is the case for those forced to choose between
either martyrdom or freedom earned through bloodshed, until
ground is gained, and on. I cannot agree that we should submit
to suffering without retaliation, or that the lessons gleaned are
worth it, as Dr. King said. If violence leads to tragic bitterness,
let it be the bitterness of those who deal in it to begin with. No
oppressor should be allowed a moment’s comfort, and no tyrant
should live without mortal fear. Whatever their “desire for a
place in the human family” entails is not compatible with the
safety and freedom of innocents.
In the last project I wrote about changing and improving
mentalities over successive generations with education and
empathy. Here in the West we are (domestically) much better
off than in previous eras, and this is due to those incremental
changes. The freedom we have to choose our representatives, to
decide our curricula, to pursue our ideals, to share in art and
technology, and to raise disagreements without fear of death
was bought with the blood and tears of those who couldn’t, and
who wanted it for all of us. Our better, more mindful and
enlightened next generations will still have to navigate between
what is morally right and what reality has put before them. We
can better prepare them, give them the tools for more peaceful
routes, better understanding of themselves and others, but by no

3. means should they become complacent.
As there is currently no need to physically storm the Bastille,
we come to the long awaited segment of this writing where I say
peaceful things. Contrary to all that pessimism, I do believe in
the potential of people. After all, we wouldn’t have gotten this
far without the endless efforts of those idealists. I believe that
any action other than submission in the face of injustice is part
of that fight, be that marching, donating to your favorite non-
profit or talking crap (read: creating an impassioned dialogue
between opposing viewpoints) on the internet. Anything that
can nudge things along has some value. While I disagree with
the reasoning behind most of Dr. King’s tenets of nonviolence
in respect to existential threats, they have their strengths at the
level of a society where dialogue is still possible, and where
dissension (mostly) isn’t met with totalitarian means. When I
see something like a police officer working to understand and
empathize with BLM rather than spouting the reactionary media
taglines, it gives me a tiny bit of hope that chipping away at this
seemingly insurmountable wall is working.
I realize this essay didn’t turn out anything like it should’ve. I
don’t know how to unite everyone under the flag of compassion,
and if I did, someone smarter than me would’ve already figured
it out and I’d have nothing to write about because things would
be on the right track. Looking at the state of this country, I’m at
my wits end and have been for a while now, but the last thing I
want is violence. I don’t want us to end up like the places
around the world where the nonviolent options were exhausted.
I want education, healthcare, and security freely available to
everyone as human rights essential to life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness. I want radical partisan nonsense to stop,
for people to realize they’re being robbed and used as pawns
against their own wellbeing, and for us to collectively turn
around and expel those dangling society’s divisions between us
like meat between starving dogs. When it comes to the limits of
nonviolent protest, Agape, unchangeable minds, and human
nature in general, more than anything, I want to be proven

4. wrong.
Classmate #2
Did you know nearly a year into Donald Trump’s presidency, a
majority of 60% of Americans say his election has led to worse
race relations in the United States? Over the same period, it was
asked the same Americans how much attention there was in
matters of race and racial issues. The majority of them said that
too little attention is paid to those issues. Throughout the
course, I’ve learned about the importance of awareness when it
comes to race relations, and how others and I are capable of
becoming inclusive by showing love and care for my
community.
The first step that we need to make in order to become aware of
racial issues is by admitting that there is an issue. Going back
to the video of
Black Lives and Blue Lives, many people gathered in
order to discuss some of the greatest problems in America.
After the question ‘Do All Lives Matter?’ was asked, one
member of the Black Lives Matter movement said, “It negates
the fact that something has to be addressed and if you don’t…
recognize that there is a problem that has to be changed then
you never f****** change it.” Having to address difficult topics
such as this one can make people uncomfortable in different
situations, just as we saw in the video
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man, where
the host (Black man) admits that it is uncomfortable to have
these kinds of discussions. The idea of getting together to
clarify ideas, perspectives/points of view helped people to
connect beyond skin color, making it clear why dialogue is of
the utmost importance to dealing with any issue that involves
people within a community.
America is a country that has lived in racism for a long time,

5. and it is possible that it will change if the community decides to
do so. Therefore I believe the second step to make that change
is to try to use our knowledge to help others understand the
importance of community and that it is better to unite by
showing love and caring. Martin Luther King Jr.’s main focus in
order to bring communities together was through love, Agape in
specific which he defined as “...understanding, redeeming
goodwill for all [sic] men, an overflowing love which seeks
nothing in return.” The main focus of this idea is to demonstrate
the moral imperative to engage with one’s oppressor in a way
that showed the oppressor the ways their actions dehumanize
and detract from society.
To sum up, the way we can become more caring with others is
through communication. Being willing to put ourselves in
uncomfortable situations to be able to listen to the concerns of
others, and try to reach agreements and improve those problems.
Another way that we can help, and I include myself in that, is to
educate ourselves about this issue. It may sound strange, but the
truth is that if we cannot understand the problem from the root,
we might lose credibility that we actually care about this matter,
therefore it is best to do research in order to support those who
need it. As I mentioned, this includes me too because when I get
the chance to articulate this topic with someone else I would
like not to worry about not using the right words to address the
topic in a meaningful way, the way it should be addressed.
Classmate #3
Looking for love and that caring nature in people is an unusual
task, and it is quite difficult to find. Who are we to define what
love means, and what caring means to others? We as individuals
define concepts of love, living, caring, and happiness in
different fonts, and different aspects, doesn't mean one is right
or the other is wrong. I define love as a concept that intertwines

6. with caring, to love is to care, but after all these things are only
achieved when you are capable of them yourself. Growing up
my family was focused on structure, and built on strictness that
was identified as love, being pushed to the fullest point was
disguised as caring. Contorting my parenting into a constant
fear of not loving my kids enough, because I don't know how to
show it. Not being able to hug my kids, and not being able to
fully express my love, because that was not something I grew up
with. Going back to the main question of, who are we to define
the definition of love and caring, when we all carry our own
definitions.
From love songs through decades, and love portrayed through
various forms of media. Love has been shoved down our throats
as different variations and different meanings each time. The
love of a family member, the safe place, the caring of a loved
one. The best friend so close it could be your platonic soulmate.
The person of your dreams, your happy ever after, with the
pumpkin carriage and all. But what media doesn't represent is
the lesson of self-love, spewing about the importance of loving
yourself, and girls supporting girls. When in reality it is a cover
to allow the media to rip apart those who serve the true
portrayal of self-love. In an interview on NPR,
"Lizzo on Feminism, Self-Love, and bringing
'Hallelujah Moments' To Stage" where the interviewer Teddy
Gross addressed the artists positivity when it came to her body,
when speaking of her album cover, he said "because you are
trying to break the mold of what beautiful is." Which led Lizzo
to say, "Yeah, but are you only saying that because I'm fat?...
Because I feel like if I were a thin woman, maybe that wouldn't
be the case. I feel like women who are smaller aren't really
given the opportunities to be body-positive...we've been
conditioned to believe that women are using their bodies for the
male gaze." We as a society expect love and care, but how can
we expect that when we aren't even kind to one another when
we interject our opinions when it comes to another person's
body. Something that can be seen in the Roe v. Wade topic of

7. abortion, pro-life protestors claim to care about the lives of
unborn children, when in reality it is a scheme to get their view
of God across. They stop caring when it comes to a child sitting
in the system, waiting to find a home, waiting for a family to
love them, a family to care for them, because the person who
birthed them was not ready, but instead was forced to be ready.
According to AFCARS (Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and
Reporting System) there are approximately 420,000 children
ranging all from newborn to the age of 18, that are waiting for a
family. They stop being loved when they are out of the womb,
they aren't loved when they sit in a system for a majority of
their lives, they aren't loved when they turn to the streets
because they were kicked out when they turned to be legal age.
So, who are we to define what love and care means.
Media interjects their perspective of love. With censoring, and
community guidelines in media, we aren't shown the behind the
scenes of love stories we deem to be true love. Ike and Tina
Turner, a true love story, one for the books. Ike Turner, who
was older having a career of his own took responsibility for the
wave of excitement of his wife Tina Turner. What media did not
show was the fact that she was beaten and abused. They instead
covered it and turned it on the victim that she didn't speak out,
when hundreds of people knew that this was going on. Society
inserts fear into victims of speaking out and not being believed
when they are being controlled and abused by men of power.
We have seen it throughout decades, the scandal of Clinton and
Monica Lewinsky, Lorena Bobbitt and her husband, the list goes
on. Women in all of these cases have been targeted and trashed,
and the men leave without a single word. Love, a commitment
that you give to another, care, considering feelings and actions,
and taking proper care of your loved one. Something all of these
men broke, but instead the woman was criticized for. The media
taking the reins on defining what love meant to them.
Love means Love. What does this mean to you? To many it is a
confirmation of their love being valid, and their love being

8. accepted. To others it is a signal to tear down, and to discredit
feelings of thousands. The LGBTQ community has been
diminished and shredded to pieces throughout history. Marsha
P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, two of the biggest women
activists in LGBTQ history, stood up for the right to love
whoever you want. Participating in the Stonewall Riot, solely
because "...solicitation of same-sex relations was illegal in New
York City."
(HISTORY, Stone Wall Riots, 2022). All because
society was refusing to accept the fact that love holds no
boundaries.
Leading us back to the main question, who are we to define love
and care. I don't know, we as human through our lives are still
trying to figure out who we are, and what we are. Love and Care
are two of those things that you have to figure out. Who am I to
sit here and try to force you to love and care about each other,
when it doesn't affect me? But that's the thing, it does affect
me, it affects the people around you when you are hateful and
disregard feelings of others. We need to turn to each other and
love one another, and care for one another, in the words of Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr., "I have decided to stick with love. Hate
is too great of a burden to bear."
(11 Martin Luther King Quotes about Love that are
Worth Repeating. 2022) Whether we all love in a lifetime
doesn't matter, but what does matter is that we love each other
in this lifetime, and care for one another. We need to speak out
for one another, when one is targeted, or one is being beaten
down. We need to bring love to those that need it most and
show support for those that feel lost and are alone. We as
humans all have hearts that beat, we have a brain that works.
Though we all don't come from the same place, or the same
background. We all carry one thing in common, love and
guidance, it's just a matter of whether or not we understand it
enough to use it.