The College Fix

Dear microaggressed person,

I understand you have been offended by some innocuous question or statement recently. Troublesome news. Although this may add additional discomfort to your fragile state, I must inform you that I am offended by you.

You see, I cannot fathom how someone saying something stupid – whether intentionally offensive or simply inane – can take up so much of your mental state as to hold you hostage to your misery and indignation.

Dear microaggressed person, can you not see that the planet you live on is inhabited by people who know real agony, real transgression, real pain? That the verbal (or nonverbal) “slight” you experienced is so inconsequential in comparison to these woes?

What is someone asking you to “teach them how to twerk” compared to the young girls in Africa having their clitorises sliced off? “More than 125 million girls and women alive today have been cut in the 29 countries in Africa and Middle East where female genital mutilation is concentrated,” the World Health Organization reports. These gals would trade places with you in a heartbeat, I dare say.

Dear microaggressed person, I am sorry someone called you “sassy.” They probably meant well.

But should we lose sleep over that, or the millions of women who underwent forced abortions and forced sterilizations in the People’s Republic of China over the last three decades? Please tell me, microaggressed person, because I am having a hard time understanding why I should care about your feelings being hurt when there are actual atrocities taking place on this globe today.

Microaggressed person, did you know that in 2014, the United Nations reported that human trafficking continues to be one of the most egregious crimes this planet faces, with its victims – mostly women and many of them little girls – facing “sexual exploitation, organ removal and slavery.”

And what of the 200 kidnapped schoolgirls taken captive by Boko Haram? “The girls are believed to have been forced into marriages with Boko Haram fighters or trained to become suicide bombers,” it’s been reported. Can you imagine what offends these young girls?

So I’m sorry, microaggressed person (OK, not really), that I am not spending time dwelling on how someone asked you: “What are you?” It’s one way of finding out about someone’s background. Perhaps not the best way of phrasing it, but in the scheme of things, who cares?

Can’t we worry, instead, about the thousands upon thousands of families, children and others being slaughtered by ISIS right now? Or the refugees these terrorists have created, many of whom are young girls committing suicide because their situations seem so bleak?

Microaggressed person, I know you think the universe revolves around you. Living here in America – the land of self gratification and selfie sticks – we have a tendency to zero in on our own little problems and forget all else.

But in reality, we all live on a miraculous, life-sustaining planet that revolves around a star, one star in a galaxy that contains an estimated 100 billion stars. Nevermind that our galaxy is among some 100 billion-plus galaxies.

My point is, us Earthlings are in this together, a species surrounded by more vastness than we can literally comprehend. Can we not set aside our pettiness and focus in on what really matters, dear microaggressed person?

I really hope we can.

Sincerely,

A person whose heart breaks for the truly broken in this world

Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter

IMAGE: Grafixtek/Flickr