Friday; December 11

The other day I was thinking about this whole COVID mess and I had a revelation – I need to be careful how and when I express my opinions. What really got my attention was thinking about someone who had lost a family member to the disease hearing people argue about whether the virus is real or is just a political ploy. Honestly, it doesn’t matter what others think, for that individual, it is serious! For them, it isn’t rhetorical debate, it was a life and death issue and death won!
The more I thought about, the more I realize how important it is to tame our tongues. Imagine someone who has a child in a drug treatment program having to overhear a heated debate about whether someone with a chemical addition should be incarcerated or merely left out on the street to fend for themselves. What would it be like to be the child of a solider who was killed in Viet Nam to have to hear someone call the conflict a politically irresponsible waste of time and resources? How about being a storeowner who had lost their livelihood and a lifetime of memories in a riot having to listen to a dispute about whether public resources should be used to stop the spread of violence and looting.
Folks, please don’t misunderstand what I am saying. I am not interested in debating these issues in this type of forum, nor am I saying that we shouldn’t have the discussions. What I am saying is that before we start talking about them, let’s remember that there are some people who have personally experienced what we are theoretically discussing. Let’s be sensitive to the times and locations for where we have these discussions and the declarations we make as a result of our debates. In their right time and place, academic discussions can be productive, but when we aren’t careful, the same words can be devastating.

Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Thursday; May 3

I have a fish tank that allows my three Bettas (Larry, Darrell and Darrell) to live in the same structure, but remain hidden from each other – well sort of.   When I go to feed the fish, I believe that one of the Darrell’s can sort of see that the other Darrell is getting fed and he will linger over on that side of the tank even after I put his food in his tank.   I have to tap on the side of the tank where his food is floating to help him refocus and eat.   I get the impression that he is so interested in what is going on in the other Darrell’s tank that he can’t enjoy his own food. I have been told that the brain of a fish is pretty small – which explains their inability to process “blessings”, but are we guilty of the same malady as Darrell?   Are we so worried (or consumed) by what happens to the people around us that we fail to realize what is going on with us?   Are we envious of the blessings that others are receiving and end up missing out on what we have been given?   Are w
Read more

Thursday; February 14

         While most of us are familiar with today being Valentine’s Day, there are some who actually refer to February 14 th as “St. Valentine’s Day”.  This title is often affixed to a criminally historic event known as “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” on February 14, 1929 in Chicago, but that is another story for another time.  Not knowing much about the history of “Saint Valentine” I did a little research and found out he was a Roman religious leader who was martyred in 269 AD.  According to my limited research Valentine was killed because of his encouragement of Roman men (especially soldiers) to marry which was in violation of Claudias’ edict that prohibited marriage to keep their minds singularly focused on their task of defending the Empire.  Somehow, from this beginning – and possibly embellished by Chaucer – St. Valentine became intertwined with the concept of romantic love.           I am not really sure how February 14 th became connected with love, but inspired by thi
Read more

Wednesday; December 6

What does it mean to be a leader? I subscribe to the belief that a leader is someone who seeks the best for others and works with them to achieve their potential. There are others; however, who define leadership as the ability to have a vision and the tenacity to get their own way. Leaders who are this way are often portrayed as having developed the maturity to manipulate people to do things their way. However, is the ability to drive people in our direction mature or is it childish? The Christians of the 1st Century came from a lot of different backgrounds and had to work hard to work together. As the Apostle Paul challenged Christians in the city of Ephesus he challenged them to accept individual differences, “… until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. “ (Ephesians 4:13). Bossiness was not to be viewed as a sign of maturity, a willingness to wo
Read more