It's time to knock it off. And what I am about to ask you to consider, I'm sure I am guilty of in some way, shape or form. We have turned into a very nasty nation, cowardly and nasty. Many hide behind the written word on places like Facebook, Twitter, personal blogs and other forms of social media to just be downright nasty. As I say often, it's easy for us to spread a lot more heat than it is to spread light. Specifically, we populate social media with our partisan take on things, believe it all to be true because it fits the world according to me, then we destroy those who disagree with us and we post and repost more and more articles and posts that prove me right(?). And we do all of this behind the false bravado and even more false sense of anonymity of social media; by the way, you just ain't all that anonymous and you ain't that bold.
The level of uncalled for and even unseemly discourse is intense. Now this is not the only generation with intense and nasty discourse but it just feels incredibly out of control. Watch a full hour in the evening of Fox News, or MSNBC, or read a politically based blog, or read what your friends list puts on Facebook or, even more sadly, read a tweet from your President, or his staunchest haters, or what drips from the lips of a Maxine Waters, you get the point. Hell, listen to the conversation at the family dinner table. How about this, go attend an after mass or church service social event and see if the discussion is on Matthew 25, or the Beatitudes, or the examples of a Mother Teresa or Pope JPII(both incredible Saints by the way). And yes, we have had some salty Saints too, like St. Jerome, but I hope you get my drift.
With the incredible access of social media, and non-stop news stations and cable and satellite and non-stop talk radio why can't we find the incredibly uplifting, life-affirming stories, examples of generosity and kindness and highlight all of them? Why not? Well, they say it won't sell; then shame on us.
Let me come very clean; I know in some times of pressure and stress I can be unpleasant. I can be and have been hurtful and irresponsible and wild with words. To me, this is always regrettable. I know this has happened to me twice in the last 30 days. I am so thankful for forgiveness from those I hurt and the forgiveness tangibly experienced in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. But what I am talking about tonight is how we take these personal experiences and really run with it under the cover of something that did not even exist 15-20 years ago. We cling to it and stoke it instead of letting the heat of the fire just go out. Let it go out for God's sake.
In 2018 YTD, we have had 154 mass shootings as documented by businessinsider.com. There have been over 7500 deaths in 2018 YTD from gunfire alone. At the core of each and everyone of these events is hatred in the heart, perhaps, and I want to stress perhaps, from the toxic, over-the-top, fiery human temperature that, as said earlier, seeks not to shed light(offering solutions, forgiveness, kindness and understanding) but pouring gasoline on the heat(meant to hurt, wound, rip apart, destroy, crush).
God made man in His own image to have relationship with us; for us to live in peace, but he also gave us free will and did not stop the evil one from being in the picture. Man had a choice, they failed and next thing you know, Cain is murdering Abel. Sadly, evil has manifested itself ever since, yet still with the grace and help of God, we can master it. We have to choose. And all too often, we fail to choose wisely. Jesus, when He came to walk among us, showed us time and time again how to act, to forgive, to love, to worship. Yes, even Jesus lost his temper once, but we know that His anger was altogether righteous. At the cross, Jesus demonstrated the depths of His Love, as He stretched out His arms between heaven and earth for the love of us. Even the thief, known as Dismas, from his own cross, knew and then asked and received Jesus' incredible mercy; His forgiveness and love. And each of us wants the reward of Dismas, to be with Jesus in Paradise. Yet we have His plan, His example of how to live and love on this side of Heaven and it just ain't a lot of what is evidenced today.
I am going to quote again that powerful line from the TV show ER, several years old now from a dying dad to a teenage daughter; his last words of wisdom: be generous! be generous with your time, with your love with your life. Generosity of words and actions is what we are called to be and do in this time of incendiary discourse and political partisanship and all out fighting.
No one or anything can keep us from the love of God, Scripture tells us. I pray that includes Facebook, and blogs, and social media, and our politics or a man, powerful by position he/she may be, or our own attitudes, selfishness and words.
Jesus made it simple: love one another. Love God above all, love your neighbor as yourself, realize who our neighbor really is and flood the world, one life at a time if necessary, with kindness and love as we learn to be generous; yes, with our time, love and life.
I like to think of that song close to the end of Les Miserables: to love another person is to see the face of God! I want to see the face of God and I pray we all do too!
So tonight can we collectively just knock it off? In the end, it really ain't that important.
Maybe tonight we can pray with Matthew 25? Give it a try.
Peace++
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