I'm Not Anti-Trump Supporters, I'm Pro-Humanity

People often accuse me of being anti-Trump supportersI suppose practically speaking, they’re often correct, but they’re also missing the point, sometimes mistakenly and sometimes intentionally.Well-meaning friends might say this as an oversimplified bit of descriptive shorthand; a way of quickly summarizing the work I do, the words I write and speak, the activism I engage in, and the directness of the voice I use.More often, though, strangers say this as a pointed criticism; the assertion that I am somehow preoccupied to the point of dangerously disproportionate anger toward a group of strangers; that I am singularly fueled by an unhealthy hatred for people simply because of their political affiliation.That isn’t the real story here.This, in many ways, has nothing to do with Trump, the GOP, or their all-too-willing acolytes.My life is and always has been oriented toward something far greater than a person or a party. I am propelled into my days by who and what I love.I’m pro-humanity.I have a fierce regard for every human being who finds themselves here, and it burdens me greatly when anyone is exposed to cruelty and violence in any form, because I realize that life is heavy and it’s difficult for most of us, on our best days. My stomach turns when people of power and privilege pile burdens on already burdened people.I’m pro-diversity.I find the differences in disparate humanity here to be one of the greatest gifts we are given in this life, and experiencing this expansive variety has always made me a better and wiser version of myself. I despise when one group of people wants to rid the world of those who don’t look, talk, think, and believe the way that they do, because we all lose in the subtraction.I’m pro-equality.I believe every person on the planet has the same inherent worth, regardless of their race, nation of origin, sexuality, or any other qualifier. Each of the 8 billion people who reside here is deserving of reverence and justice, and I am driven fully to sickness when anyone’s value is ignored, when they are treated as less-than.I’m pro-compassion.I want to cultivate empathy in the days I am given here; to remember just how much pain people are in, how many invisible battles they are fighting, how paper-thin a thread they sometimes hang by. I want my life to be a soft place to land for human beings whose lives can be terribly hard.I’m pro-family.Not just my family. Not just families who look like mine or worship like mine. Not just families who live in America or were born here or speak my language. Not families who conform to anyone’s expectations. I believe every home and every configuration of people in those homes is as valid and beautiful as my own.I’m pro-decency.I am an unrelenting fighter for joy; for belly laughs and warm embraces and well-earned smile lines around eyes who have seen wonders and beheld beauty.I am a fierce warrior for unearned acts of kindness, for gentle words for people who are hurting, for unsuspecting blessings from strangers.I am a steadfast defender of goodness that finds no joy in exclusion or separation or injury to another.I believe I was fortunate to be born where I was born, and with all the privileges and advantages I have because of it, and that I have a responsibility to share and not to hoard these things as some divine birthright or earned reward or sign of my superiority.I want to leverage my talent, my resources, my voice, and my abundance to make this world more compassionate, loving, and kind than when I arrived.And all of this is the crux of the misunderstanding.That these convictions almost always leave me in direct opposition to the MAGA ethos, to its grim practitioners, and to their miserable messiah is a sad indictment of who they are.The fact that centering empathy and decency invariably necessitates me pushing back against them and opposing their unrelenting holy war on the rest of the world says far more about him than it does me.I’m not against Trump supporters. I’m not working to keep them from voting or marrying the person they love or using the bathroom they want to use or making their own healthcare decisions or living where they wish to live. I’m actually for them.I am, however, also for Muslims and immigrants and refugees and Christians and atheists and young black men and veterans and transgender teens and poor families and sick children and single parents and undocumented neighbors, and this makes me MAGA’s adversary by choice—their choice.I’m joyfully, passionately, unapologetically, perpetually pro-all humanity.That’s the real story here.That’s who I am.I wish that was who they were.The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnpavlovitz.substack.com/subscribe