Noise distorts the message.

Being heard while whispering is harder than being heard while yelling. But it is the most powerful thing. If someone screams, people will hear it. But are people listening? When someone whispers, only people who want to listen will stop and hear. That is where the true power lies.

Peaceful protest can be seen as “uneffective” and “not loud enough”. Since people have been complaining these same issues for so long with no results. I believe protestors don’t need to be louder or more aggressive. They need to be more resilient. They need to persevere. Even if it takes longer, the results will be more profound.

Expressing your point of view in times of “political correctness” is the hardest thing. If you say something, you are judged. But in the times we are facing today, even if we don’t say a thing we are judged. We should be speaking up. We should be doing this or that. We are all elephants walking through broken glass. But I don’t care. I will speak up. Because it is important. What I have to say is important. And you need to listen.

Loud is always more impressive. People will be amazed by fireworks, the Niagara Falls, the atomic bombs. We see news of accidents, wars, epidemics, violence. But rarely any good news hit the front pages or become viral videos. Quiet has that disadvantage.

But when something quiet, finally pushes through, the outcome is undeniable. Personally, whenever someone starts yelling at me, whatever they are saying is not as important as my will for them to stop screaming and shut up.

A drop of water will pierce through a stone not by force but by resilience.

Today we are facing a situation where nothing is correct. If you protest, you risk breaking the law. If you stay at home, you are on the side of the oppressors. If you incite violence in the name of freedom, you are a terrorist. If you speak, you might not be saying the right thing. If you don’t speak, you are automatically a racist.

I need to remind everyone that no one chose the skin in which they were born. The body, and the skin, are just part of the vessel in which no one got a chance of deciding. I am aware that I stand in a point of privilege. And I am aware that perspective can be deformed depending on where you stand.

I am a woman. And I have had to cross to the other side of the sidewalk because I dont feel safe. I have had to endure comments and whistles and things said to me without any man stopping to reflect on the effect of their words.

But nevertheless, I feel that we need to approach this from a side of tolerance. I’m not saying we need to sit crossed legged and wait. Because real change starts with setting things in motion. What I am saying is we need to understand two principles:

1. No one chose their skin color.
2. Everyone has a different state of consciousness and they can only respond from what they know.

We all have one thing in common. We did not chose to come into this world. We did not chose to be white or black or yellow or brown or pink. Skin color, culturally speaking, makes you privileged or disadvantaged. Makes your life easier or more dangerous.

Also, the way someone reacts is only a reflection of what they know. I cannot be mad at my turtle because she can’t have a conversation with me. I simply understand that she is not able to speak and respond to me. I am not mad about it, I just accept it. I tolerate to have one-way monologues with my sweat and quiet turtle.

The same acceptance and understanding we need to have towards people’s reactions. They only act out of what they know. If they know fear, and screams and violence. They will react with yells and hits and punches. If they know conversation, acceptance, love. They will react with trying to have a conversation.

I cannot judge people’s reactions I can just understand that they are doing what they can with what they have. Being education, values and state of consciousness.

I understand the violent protesters. I feel their pain, I share their outrage, and I admire their courage. But I still truly believe that the message is lost in the action of violently expressing yourself. People will distort the message which is: We need freedom, we need equality, we need peace when we walk the streets of our neighborhood, city, country. People will ignore the message and only hear: Broken cities, run-over police officers, chaos, riot, violence, fear.

A clear example happened in my home country Mexico last year. There was an organized peaceful protest for feminism. Girls, boys, women and men got together and walked down the most important street of the city demanding equality, peace and equal rights for mexican women. The message got distorted and discredited because some group (a very small one if you compare it with the amount of peaceful protesters) started chaos and violence.

On the newspapers and Instastories the next day, you saw headlines like “Violent feminazis” and “Destroyed National Monument by Crazy Women Protestors” instead of statistics of number organized people walking for women’s rights or other important facts. The worst part is that the violent group was earlier photographed getting off from a police bus. Which makes you question if these people where sent on purpose by the same government to discredit and altercate the event.

Specially now we need peacemakers. We have come to a moment of desperation, where lives are regarded as disposable, human rights as non-essential. But it is in these times where peace is the most needed. Through the most adverse of times is where one displays what they are truly made of.

Don’t bend. Don’t give up. Don’t give in to the collective hate. We need to whisper. We need to respond with our own level of consciousness.

And if you have lost sight of this, you need to get back to yourself and look again.

I’d encourage you to rather reflect on your past. Reflect where you could’ve done something a little bit better. A time where you could have avoided having a racist thought. Or a time where you could’ve spoken up in a racist situation but decided not to for whatever reason (fear, shame).

The answer is not easier. The way to this peace and freedom and equality we are all aiming for is actually much harder than breaking streets and raiding cities. Peaceful movements require so much more organization and resilience. Peaceful protesting requires practice. Peaceful protesting is everyday.

In everything we do. Everything we think.

The work is internal. The work is every day. The work is getting up every morning, and questioning yourself. Can I do more? Can I be more tolerant? Can I be more inclusive? What can I do to improve my community, my country, my world?

We need to reprogram some behaviors. We need to relearn how to interact without harming a third person. We need to be empathic and inclusive.

We need to also understand that even if we did not chose our skin color, if I stand in a place of privilege, I need to use this as a platform to promote and create a space of healing, help, inclusiveness and tolerance.

Social differentiation is real. Racism is real. Oppression of minorities is real. Abuse of power is real.

We should not ignore what makes us uncomfortable but rather face it naked and raw. We need to stare at inequality in the face and say enough is enough. In our own selves, in our own houses, in our own communities. We are one with the world. And until we reach the point of understanding this, we will not see any real change.

So next time you see a racist, judgmental or intolerant thought cross your mind. Stop it. That is the first step. And use your voice, speak up, whenever you see anything that resonates with this.

Look into the eyes of that person you cannot comprehend and understand that they are doing what they can with what they have. Because at the end, that person staring back at you is you.

“Be the change you want to see in the world” - Gandhi