حُبُّواْ أَنْفُسَكُمْ

Love Thyself

Supporting Each Other

Because of self-hate supporting each other doesn’t come naturally to our collective. Therefore we are going to have to practice and make a conscious effort to support each other until it becomes natural. When something isn’t a natural part of your culture you have to make both the mental and physical effort to practice it in order to make that cultural change. There are no quick fix solutions, if you want it you have to do it.

If you want to make it a habit or to re-introduce that quality into a culture it must be treated as a value which takes priority. This means sacrifice will be required in order to make sure it is elevated above other behaviours. If sacrifice and effort isn’t made to reintroduce this in the present generation it will take another generation to do the hard work required to give this gift to our people and children.

This cycle must be broken and it will only be broken when we all say and do whatever it takes to mend this broken spiritual behaviour.

As we came from a culture that is broken and has endemic self-hate we all grew up with, as a collective, our identity community not helping those that looked like us. Not sticking up for one another and showing each other true support unless that person was a close friend or family member, therefore what we pass on to our children is that learned behaviour and expectation. If our children, as we did, learn that they shouldn’t support those who look like them it will mean that, that is the expectation the child should have for itself. This every-man-for-himself culture has only made our children more vulnerable and disenfranchised. When you already feel like the world is against you not having a community to fall back on to feel safety in numbers it can mean your feeling of vulnerability is increased. It can also be a confirmation in your mind of your worthlessness which then feeds directly into the perception of self-hate. This internal conversation then manifests into expressions of disappointment which then has a tangible effect such as not wanting to waste your time on those who don’t want to care about you. This becomes a perpetual cycle.

If the effort is not made and one is able to find an excuse not to help your own or invest in your own then the cycle will continue and another generation is given the same legacy of excuses and stories of why you could find an excuse but not the effort to support your own.

Supporting each other is an expression of self love. If one is not able to give time for each other or spend our money with each other and encourage each other in a tangible way then understand you do not love the concept of yourself. If you really want to know whom exactly you love then record how much time and money you spend and where you spend it. Your time is the most valuable asset you possess and your money is an indicator of whom you want to see being successful because you are investing your money and time in them. Every penny you do not spend in your community is an investment in someone else’s community. This will give you a truer indication of who you really love and support or who you actually hate.

When you do not support your own don’t be surprised if others treat you exactly the same way. You teach people how to treat you and if you do not support your own then don’t be surprised when others do not value you either because you do not value yourself. When your children witness you making the sacrifice to support your own then they will see that it is then a value that you really hold dear and it is then not just lip service and talk but tangible actions and behaviour.

The way a community and its individuals demonstrate self-love is through giving as much of its time and money to itself and supporting each other economically and socially. When we do this our true self self-love is expressed and this gives self esteem to everyone in the community. If you’re not doing this then do not lie to yourself but accept that you do not love the concept of yourself.