One need not come out from under a rock to know that our world is incredibly divided. It can be no more apparent than social media, where one post can ruin your day if you are unfortunate enough to see all your friends arguing over one particular idea or premise.
Gone are the days when we can have a civil conversation, it seems! I just caught someone expressing an opinion they had and getting lambasted for it. Never mind that if the shoe was on the other foot, she might have been lauded. Many of us are tired of one-sided conversations, tired of people not choosing to actually talk about an issue.
I'm saddened daily by the lack of progress in our society on trying to come together on certain issues. Every time I think maybe we could have conversation, because I know my friends and I really try to bridge the gaps, it appears that the wound keeps getting torn off to keep it agitated and festering. It doesn't take much, right? If the wound is not able to come together, it can't heal. It seems that the bandage, true conversation, appears to come off as soon as we make ANY headway into trying to find reasons, ways, and topics on which to come together.
What can we actually do? I'm so grieved about this.
And in this particular situation, which I will not cite, for protection & privacy sake, and for my own desire to support this terrible conversation's need to stop, I thought and thought, and pondered, and turned around in my head, how can I speak to this issue without getting lambasted by one side? I seriously, on this one issue, could see things about both sides. But unfortunately, people feel very strongly about their opinions.
And the problem with that is that I totally support people FULLY feeling strong about their thoughts!!! It's a massive value I have to see people live in the fullness of their image of God, their sovereignty!!!
What I would love more than anything is to see people stop criticizing each other, stop shaming each other, stop forcing others into boxes, and stop canceling others. It's despicable, and disgusting behavior.
Is that possible? I may be naive when it comes to this, but I believe we can find a way to allow people to live together. And we can do it WITHOUT canceling people because of something they can't change. And that goes both ways. I have not told you what I think, but I will tell you from experience that people are canceling people for all kinds of reasons. I'm not sure that's a super effective strategy, because I don't know what the end goal is. I do find it troubling that it APPEARS the end goal is destructive.
Is that what's happening? Are we trying to punish people? How well does that FIX a problem? It just doesn't appear to fix the problem to me. The Bible talks about the fact that if we are divided, we will fall. We are guaranteed to suffer if we do this to each other, no matter who we are, because if you cancel someone, watch out, because it will be a matter of time before someone cancels you, too.
We MUST find a way to solve the problem. Stop ripping the band-aid off before the wound has healed. Look for ways to come together, with both your words and your pocketbook. Support small business. Ask more questions than the number of statements you make. Decide to be part of the solution, and find a way every day you can demonstrate the love of Christ to others.
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