I am having a really hard time moving on and getting focused today. I have something on my mind that I feel needs to come out. Sometimes I am not even sure what it is, but it seems if I just start typing it will form some kind of thought and create some peaceful space that enables me to function.
It is October; we are on the fast track to the end of this year and what another hard year it has been. As everyone else did this morning, I woke up to here the horrifying news of another mass shooting, this one in Las Vegas. Another crazy murderous person has taken his anger, frustration, hatred to the ultimate level and destroyed the lives of people he doesn’t even know. Isn’t that pretty much the definition of all mass murderers? You can call them terrorist, or sort them by their religion or political views but really they are people so consumed by their beliefs and hatred that they lash out on innocent people. They have no respect for life and they often take their own lives in the process; they do not value their life why would they value others?
I love this age of instantaneous communication and connecting people, but as with all things it has its downside. It is instantaneous and therefore everyone believes they have the right to say anything to anyone in any manner they please, instantly and without forethought. You know that statement, “Don’t read the comments?” What about don’t respond to the comments, don’t make comments filled with hate and destruction.
We have moved to an age where awareness of “bullying” is in the forefront, yet people make comments in social media, on the news, in sports, in Hollywood, on the floors of Congress and yes, even in the highest office in our land that are just what they preach against. They are divisive, mean-spirited, comments said without thought or care about who is insulted or harmed. Have we reached the point to where we have lost all human decency and respect for one another?
It seems every day people are in a heated battle for their beliefs. I have beliefs, I was not a fan Mr. Obama and I am not a racist. I started the year in 2008 counting the days until the end of his term and after a while I discovered it wasn’t the end of the world. However, I knew people that believed, fervently some truly horrible things about him and his family. I tried to look at him as a man with two young daughters that really only wanted what was best for them and their future. I disagreed with things he said and did but I did not come unglued over the whole thing for the next eight years.
I was not a fan of some of George Bush’s policies, although I thought he was a decent man and I am not an overwhelming supporter of Mr. Trump. However, I look at his family and his children and think the same thing. He is a man who really wants the best for his family and their future, so I am hoping he would create the same for mine. Will he do things that I disagree with? Yes, but the US is bigger than any, one, man. The United States of America is all of us. The United States of America is all of us. We all make a difference each day in how we treat each other, how we respect each other, how we help each other and how we remember we are above all, Americans. Abraham Lincoln said it best, “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” and popular music harmonized it in the song, “United we Stand, Divided we Fall”
The people you see on the news the rich, the famous, the powerful they may be the popular face of America, but they are a very small percentage of us as a whole. I hear or read disparaging comments about other races or religions, but I can honestly say the people that make these comments are not part of my daily life. I greet everyone with a smile and everyone I greet returns the same. Furthermore, I am a conservative, and I have liberal friends, I have far right and far left friends, friends that I have socialized with for years 30 years. Every time we are together we laugh and share our common goals, share about our families and we love each other. We have not torn our friendship apart over these times or any election.
What will tear us apart? Hate. Hate for those who are different, hate so strong you forget common decency and respectful speech for some little bit of self-satisfaction of venting ones anger and frustration.
I am telling you, life is way too short. Hate and the need to hate can consume people. I pray God, don’t let it be me, don’t let it be those I love; remind me of the important things in life and please protect me from reading the comments.
If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.
Romans 12:18 NAMS
Emyloom ~ Words Woven Within My Heart 