Be Careful What You Read

I usually keep my opinions on any socially prevalent issue to myself, out of respect for friends, colleagues, and relatives. My opinions is just that...an opinion. It's neither right nor wrong, but it does belong to me.

I can no longer stay silent as senseless slaughters happen all over this once great nation. Those in authority incite a divide that is quickly becoming a chasm. Mass hysteria reigns. People are unable to do the jobs they're paid for, and others protest because they think it's what they should do. Acts of graciousness and kindness go unreported, because they're not sensational enough.

I have many friends of different races, creeds, religions...and I can't choose whose life matters more...because they all matter. We all build in to each other's lives, daily, sometimes without even being aware we are doing so. Do I regret that white people held black people in the bondage of slavery? You'd better believe I do! Is my spirit shaken to its core when I see stories of children snatched in broad daylight, only to be sold in to sexual slavery? Yes! Am I horrified when officers, no matter their color, are murdered in the name of a cause that promotes hatred and divisiveness instead of promoting peace and efforts to combat senseless killing? You bet! This country doesn't need more killing! It needs more grace. More understanding. More accountability. More personal responsibility. Less selfishness. Less arrogance. More forgiveness. Folks...the people who are sworn to protect us from the actual bad guys are now targets. Are there bad cops? Yes. There are also bad doctors, bad lawyers, bad office workers, bad fast food workers...evil doesn't stay in one place. It spreads, like a disease. That's what this is, my friends. This is evil, on a rampage. Running willy-nilly, and wantonly shaking its wretched fist in our faces, egging on the worst in us, and suffocating the good.

A nation divided cannot stand. A long time ago I read a quote by Edmund Burke. I'll paraphrase it, and try to put a semi-modern day spin on it, "All it takes for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing." If I don't stand up for what's right, then who? If you don't speak peace to those around you, then who? As a nation, we're sitting, waiting for someone else to start the turn of the tide. The tide only turns when one person stands up for the greater good.

When we die, our bodies decompose. Everything that is under the surface looks the same once hair and skin is gone. Regardless of skin color of the victims...we're killing our brothers and sisters, folks! And then, standing in the streets rejoicing over it. Or building walls of belligerence to keep out the few who try to stand and say stop the madness!

You might agree with me. You might not. The choice is yours. At some point, someone has to be bold, courageous, and determined. To do what is right, honorable, and noble, regardless of the cost. I will not pretend that I know what it's like to grow up black in America. Because I was born white. I don't know what it's like to be treated differently because of the color of my skin. But, I do know what it's like to try to face life with an attitude of gratitude. Every one of us has a choice to just accept others, or to start judging, based on skin color, ethnicity, religion, height, weight, social status...the list is endless! So, stop judging! What you judge by will most likely have nothing to do with who the person you're judging is on the inside. And, that's the person we should be looking at. Anything on the outside is extemporaneous. It can, does, and will change, given time. At the end of this journey, all we will have left is who we are deep inside. Let's start looking each other in the heart-take the time to really see someone's heart. Once we do that, everything else falls away because we're looking at the part of that person that's going to walk in to eternity.