People are not their government

This is something that I’ve relied on for years.

As an Australian who lives in the UK, the two governments with which I have the most association have horrendous legacies.

Luckily, I’m generally not held accountable for the actions of those governments. Even the recent ones.

Those around me tend to judge me based on my own actions and not those elected officials who represent me at the highest levels.

The most important time for us to remember this is when governments, or those in power, take horrendous actions on behalf of those they represent.

Yes, governments are made up of people and yes there needs to be accountability in the system, but the average person on the street is not responsible for what the controller of a country’s military budget signs off.

When we offer our support/thoughts/prayers/love in times of crisis, we’re offering it to the people, not the governments.

We don’t have to support a government’s ideology to want to support the people. We don’t have agree with what the government does, what they stand for, how they act or what they say.

We can simply acknowledge that people are suffering and that compassion can be extended to all of them.

When we choose to only share compassion with those people whose governments we agree with it’s not really compassion we’re sharing.