Facebook: What's on your mind, Dudley?
Me: More than I can put into words. Words seem so futile; so redundant. Words, alone, do not and cannot change anything. Words are too often misunderstood because they are passed through the filter of the hearer to conform to their image of their world based on what they think of my world.
Words are pointless without consistent actions to demonstrate what is meant by the words spoken. "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." It wasn't until after Jesus died that his disciples realized the love he had for them was genuine.
So, how do we, short of actually dying, show that we have a love so strong that we are willing to lay down our life for others? How about we start by giving up our "right" to be offended, or to be preferred, or to be privileged, or to be __________ (whatever you feel when you are wronged)?
What if our first response to people different from us was not fear? The greatest problem of Western culture, in my opinion, is that fear has replaced faith in almost every area of our society. We fear losing a job, we fear not being "liked," we fear being harmed by THEM (whomever this might be in your mind).
What if we stopped using pronouns (us and they) and started referring to people as individuals?
What if we stopped sharing the memes that degrade other humans, especially those with a different color pigment?
What if ...?
I'm so tired of words. Words taken out of context. Words attributed wrongly to individuals that never said them, and then perpetuated to the point of being "viral" because we want it to be true. If THEY said THAT, then I have a LICENSE to do THIS!!!
No, you don't. You do not have a license to do anything harmful (physically, mentally, socially, financially, spiritually, or any other) to another human. If you have been wronged then contact the authorities. But, make sure you have been wronged. Make sure it wasn't an oversight, or an accident, or a mental lapse. Give others an opportunity to make amends before assuming the intent behind the action.
Words are very cheap. Actions are made of gold. You have the value equivalent to Ft. Knox (when it actually was a gold depository) in the actions you can take. It is almost impossible to calculate the value of actions taken toward another human to help them, to encourage them, to lift their head, to give them hope.
Let's try to empty that bank - actions over words - and see if something changes. So far the war of words has yet to move the line of demarcation and has totally eliminated the demilitarized zone. Let's give some space, allow some wiggle room. Let some time pass before giving a knee-jerk reaction. It's amazing what a little time of reflection can do to lower the temperature of a situation
Facebook: I got nothin'.
