I fear saying anything online now because I worry I will offend someone or someone will be hurt or angry or even misunderstand what I mean. I'm not sure where my place in history lies. I know I am to love people, but I just am so weary. I know we are not to grow weary in doing good, but I'm not even sure I'm doing good. I have always taken the position that my personal opinions aren't as important to me as my relationship with you is. It would be tragic for me to lose a friend or relative because we disagree on politics. I'm just not that political of a person. In fact, I have voted in several elections and have voted just about every possible way you can, and only maybe a couple times has the person I voted for actually been elected. On occasion, this sent me into a 4 to 8-year personal depression but it didn't send me into the streets to destroy everything in sight that reminded me that I wasn't being treated right.
I've never thought of myself as a Patriot or that I even loved our land, but maybe I am more than I realized. I came into the 4th of July holiday only wanting to eat burgers and hot dogs and shoot off some fireworks sparklers that were unusually legal in our city this year. I sat down to find some fireworks on TV and discovered Friday night that the President would be at Mt. Rushmore. So, I sat and listened to his speech and then watched the fireworks after. By the end, I did feel happy to live in a land that allows me the freedom to be who I want to be and say what I want to say and believe what I want to believe. The next day, I shared one picture on my Instagram of a collage of fireworks pictures with the inscription FREEDOM as taken from the dictionary as to what Freedom means. It soon became very clear who my friends were who support the president and who do not, yet why should this post be divisive? It was simply stating a dictionary definition of what Freedom is surrounded by Mt. Rushmore fireworks. Why does everything have to be like a sporting event that demands loyalty to one team or the other? Why do I have to love the president or hate the president in order to be happy that I'm an American? This to me is sad.
Why do we have to choose sides? Why are we so divided? And, why does an elected official have to meet the standards of saint before we acknowledge they are in an honorable position?
Please don't go off on a tangent and call me passive aggressive or that I'm calling you out specifically. I'm simply weary of the whole thing. Why can't we come together as a nation and embrace our heritage, even the flaws? We can ignore that the parts of history we don't like never happened, but the truth is they did. Why do we have to cancel this cultural history in order to feel vindicated?
I was raised to believe that love conquers all!
The culture I see today is sending more of a message that righteous anger conquers all.
Which is it?
I believe that "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels but do not have love I am only a resounding gong or clanging cymbal.
I have often been mistaken for being shy because I choose to live my life in quiet peace. I love my quiet times, like this morning. I think we have enough noise in this world already.
Love is patient, kind, doesn't envy, doesn't boast, isn't proud, doesn't dishonor others, is not self-seeking, is not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
LOVE NEVER FAILS
And, now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love!
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