By Lois Hewitt

The other day I saw something on FB that made me very upset. I then started to write a scathing reply to what I had read from a person I did not know.  I stood my ground with every emotion-filled word I could think of.  I wrote how they were wrong in their assumptions of an entire group of people and that the words they so carelessly wrote were not helping the world today.

Then I thought for a moment. Odds are that person will never read my rant.  And was I much different from them in my ranting?

The volleyball game we are all playing with words, assumptions, generalizations and a touch of anger are not helping to heal this very unhealthy society we are living in.

Scolding someone for mean posts is not going to change that person from believing what they believe. They happened to believe that all conservatives were inbred. I happen to know for a fact that is not true.

So how do we change views like that and other seriously hurtful ideals without demonstrating the same attributes?

I truly believe in my God and His Son.  I know the power that changed my life. But if I stand on a soapbox with a big rock and scream incoherently my views while hitting them over the head, have I made anything better? Attacking their attack seemed like a path I did not want to go down.

Then you think silence is the answer.  That is not true because silence can be interpreted as agreement. I have been silent in the past and the results are not good.

God calls us to love one another. I have to be honest, it is hard for me to love someone who says absolutely horrible things about God or who calls me an inbred or any number of other phrases used so commonly today.

Is being kind the answer?  After a stop at CVS the other day, I barely encountered a kind person.  All were mad and short in their tone.  Impatient is the new norm.  Would kindness counter all that rage?  I am just not sure.

Jerry Springer used to end each of his hate-filled circus acts of a show with some very profound words. “Take care of each other.”

It’s what we are called to do. I have to work everyday on not becoming the person I am fighting to not be.  Anger is the worst disease because it is so very contagious and spreads so fast. Prayer is my vaccination against it so I will continue to pray for this world that is so hard to love. I will take care of who I can and be compassionate even if I have to bite my tongue.

I have said it before, this life is hard. We can all do better and I will pray for the strength to be better.

PS. It just came to me, a truth I should have known…i cannot make the changes on my own, only through God’s light through me.