We are experiencing deeply troubling times . . .

The rhetoric on cable news has become deafening.  I am reminded of Rodney King’s words a few years ago: “Can’t we all just get along?”  As I’ve said in other posts, I am not intending for this site to be political.  We all get enough of that every time we turn our televisions or radios on.  But I do feel an obligation to respond to the rhetoric with some words of sanity.

Much of my life as a writer and speaker has been devoted to “spreading a message of peace.”  I am only one voice, for sure, but I firmly believe that a lone voice is a beginning.  In fact, I think a lone voice can be like the ripple in the waves when a child skips a rock across the lake.  It does reach the other side, eventually.  Lone voices do get heard by some and the like-minded hearing them can send forth their supporting words in response.  No change comes about easily or very quickly.

Currently some are protesting against that which has recently been passed in congress; others who favor the new law are expressing their support too.  That what’s allowed and should be prized in a democracy, in fact.  However, this can become troublesome when one side of the equation seems to condone violence.  I heard on the news yesterday that a congresswoman from Minnesota said she wanted Minnesotans armed and dangerous.  I think that’s deplorable.  And my personal politics aren’t the issue.  Suggesting that violence is ever a solution takes all of us back to cave man days.

I think we should all be alarmed, frankly, when any elected official or spokesperson for other elected officials, shares an opinion that borders on inciting violence.  There are trigger-happy people in every one’s back yard.  To encourage them in any way can carry all of us down a path I’m sure we don’t want to travel.

I am glad I am a believer in prayer.  To some, prayer may seem a weak response to the rhetoric and potential for violence that seems to be growing, but I want a quiet mind and loving heart so that, at the very least, I can respond respectfully and lovingly to the people crossing my path.  Acts of peace garner strength too.  Let’s combine our efforts in this way.  Now.  It just might make the difference we need.  At least it would allow each one of us who tries it to be the difference some one else sees.