Dec 12, 2022

I Suggested "Canceling" Non-Inclusive Activities and People Got Upset!

You read that right. I posted a reel on instagram the other day of saying "things to cancel this holiday season" and I listed a few that I actually wrote an entire blog post about here.

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Now, I will be completely honest with you, I did use the word "cancel" to grab people's attention. The dilemma is that people decided to respond angrily without reading what I wrote. But the anger got my wheels turning about why inclusion isn't happening.

The second I said to cancel certain traditional music or movies or games that haven't aged well over time, people told me to "worry about your family and your life and let others worry about themselves."

I have read that line so many times and all I think about is how non-inclusive it is. If we only worried about ourselves, many people would be lonely and excluded. Of course I worry about everyone else. As a former teacher, I worried about all of my students. I still worry about my former students. And this person leaving a comment shows that she is worried about me spreading my opinion onto others.

So, no random commenter. I am worried about you.

But let's break it down:

Why do we need to re-evaluate?

“The purpose of learning isn't to affirm our beliefs; it's too evolve our beliefs.” -Adam Grant, Think Again

The only thing constant is change; time moves forward, people adapt, life happens. What is great about change is that we always know it has to come. We as a community learn and grow together and that's when things change. Sometimes for the better and sometimes not. Bottom line, it is inevitable.

But to sit on your high horse and to tell people that they aren't going to change or re-evaluate traditions that are non-inclusive or setting children up with morals followed by consequences you control, is worrisome.

Re-evaluating your values, beliefs, and goals should happen regularly. You are a different person than who you were 5 years ago, 1 year ago, 1 month ago, and even yesterday!

Inclusion wouldn't work if people didn't re-evaluate constantly!

So how does this relate to #inclusion? Inclusion wouldn't work if people weren't re-evaluating the situation. Inclusion takes time to rethink what went wrong and to figure out new steps to make it go right. There are practices I have done all of my life that I never questioned and jokes I have made that were offensive and I had no idea.

When I say "cancel" something, I am really saying:

re-evaluate why you do this

question if this is offensive to people

& how do you think it makes others feel?