When we offer love we can change the outcome

  

 So what I write tonight might seem a wee bit hypocritical, I will be doing what I'm suggesting others not to do, but it will be to get the idea out, then I will try avoid doing it in the future. Tonight I'm going to go back to the roots of my blog. Back when I started writing over two years ago I was addressing the riots in the streets during and after the Ferguson case. I was ashamed to see the hatred, the blame game and a total lack of seeking truth, being on the "right side of history" was more important that what really happened. In the aftermath of Charlotesville I feel like I'm seeing that all over again, but on an even bigger and scarier level.
    There's social media posts everywhere with everyone weighing in and what seems like a whole lot of anger and finger pointing and the amount of hatred toward Trump continues to grow, with the bitterness towards his supporters growing daily. Just to clarify, Trump is his own person, as we've seen all along he blows his mouth off all the time and others don't and can't control him. I have seen the hatred growing and growing. It feels like instead of people wanting to heal, to move forward and try to build a brighter future, we want to focus on condemnation, who is on the wrong side of history, who hasn't said enough, who said the wrong thing, who is rascist, who is a white supremacist? The point at the heart of all of this is we can't change anyone else, it doesn't matter how much we attack someone, how much we feel they are wrong, how much we feel they've missed the boat or how much we write bitter diatribes, all of those things really just entrench someone in their thinking and it reinforces our own pride, we come to see ourselves as the wronged individual and a person we have never met as a sinner who we have the right to condemn. But we don't, we aren't even directly involved in what is going on, yet suddenly we believe we have the ability and right to pass judgment on people we don't know, whose perspective we don't understand and who we will most likely never meet.
     Now this doesn't mean that I support white supremacy or violence in our streets and it doesn't mean that I don't think we should stand up for truth and righteous, love and kindness. In fact it's the very fact we jump to those conclusions that are getting us into trouble right now. We are allowing judgment and indignation to rule the day, when we need to let love and giving the benefit of the doubt the road. We need to realize that chewing out strangers isn't spreading love or encouraging change, it is just spreading more division. If we want to stand up for truth and righteousness we start by getting to know our neighbor and praying to see the best in others. I know that I struggle to give people the benefit of the doubt, sometimes I expect the worse, sometimes I let little criticism creep in, I can tell you that isn't a happy way to live and it doesn't end there, it is those little criticisms that creep in and grow like crazy, they color our vision and soon optimism, love and hope fade. If we want the world to be a better place, if we want love to rule the day...we must start will love. We start by telling the negative voice in our head no, we reject the negative consciously and we seek to understand where someone else is coming from, we seek to see them as God sees them, we see them as a precious child of God who Heavenly Father sent His Son for, we see someone worth fighting for.

  Yes history is repeating itself, yes we need to stand up to hatred and darkness, but you don't do that by pointing fingers, being angry and creating division, divisiveness is what gave Hitler his power, it's what gives all dictators their power, it is choosing a group that is "wrong" that you can make other, that you villanize, that you attack and then make them so different that it is easy to forget that they are people with emotions, that have cares and worries just like we do. You get people so caught up in wanting to look good to other people, in wanting to be on the right side that soon they forget their humanity, you get them so hung up on looking good and moving up that they can forget who they step on in the process.

So if you want to change the world, if you want to stand up for truth and righteousness, don't reach for hate, don't work to be on the right side of history. The most perfect man that ever walked on the earth wasn't on "the right side of history" He gave love, He met people where they were, He took time to get to know others, He gave love instead of judgment and He turned the current political and religious regime on its head because He offered love. We can do the same thing, we can say no to the media frenzy, we can say no to finger pointing, we can reach out to those in pain and in need, we can offer love when criticism jumps to mind. We can only control ourselves, we can only change how we respond, but perhaps when we offer love we can change the outcome and we can make a better world.