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In My Humble Opinion
Jodi McDade
We now find ourselves in one of those decisive moments in time when we have to choose the paths for our futures. And this is going to take some deep thinking, some soul searching, some eye-opening revelations, and some extreme courage.
Please notice the main title of my column – “In my Humble Opinion.” Just like me, all of you have your own opinions, and that is wonderful. The problem comes in when we don’t take the time, energy, or opportunity to openly discuss our opinions with people we think we disagree with.
I’m not going to go into our differences in politics or religion as such. But our beliefs play a huge part in how we determine our opinions.
Yes, we have a huge divide between left and right, Democratic and Republican. But that divide has been created by human hands.
What we need to understand most right now is the more important connections we have in common. The majority of us are Christians, Americans, want to live in peace, want to live in safety, want to raise our families to follow our values, and to provide our children with futures some of us didn’t have.
I wish we could turn off the news, shut down the internet and do a reset. Unfortunately, the media has become a source of brainwashing rather than truthfully providing information with facts only. Everything is provided by someone else’s OPINION. So, why can’t we just leave these people out who we don’t know, have never heard of and have put themselves in positions of directing our thoughts and beliefs?
Why can’t we sit down and talk to our family members, neighbors, friends, and strangers to have civil conversations about the events around us? Have we allowed ourselves to become so divided by race, age, gender, economic status, and politics that we are afraid to find out how much we actually have in common?
As Christians, we have a common belief in God and His principles. We have been taught that we are all God’s creation and that many of us are God’s children. Unfortunately, we are in a situation where more people have not been introduced to God or His Son Jesus than have had that wonderful opportunity. Supposedly, Christians believe that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ – but do we live out that belief? Do we purposely separate ourselves from each other regarding the worldly opinions we have allowed to divide us? Do we allow political garbage to control our thoughts rather than the Word of God that guides us to love one another?
Why do we have so much evil in the world? Why do so many of our young people fall for the indoctrination of violence rather than peace? Why do so many of us turn our heads away and not speak out against the ungodly things going on in our world? Have we allowed the government to dictate how we think, how we act and how we live? Our “leaders” do not set the needed tone for civility, open discussion and reconciliation.
Our country was founded on a set of beliefs that all people are created equal – just as God created us. The founders were from many different walks of life, many different areas, many different ages, and many different opinions. But they found a way to listen to each other and discuss their differences until they came to common ground on how our country should be created.
I blame the dubious COVID-19 shutdown for many of the issues we have today. People were separated from each other – even from their family members.
That separation contributed to people not being able to communicate verbally one on one, but were left with non-verbal communication where the “feeling” of words were not understood. Our children were isolated from each other in school, their physical and emotional freedom was taken from them, and their ability to civilly communicate with each other was no longer available. We lost our opportunities to meet people in person and develop friendships.
So now we see more horrific attacks, murders and assassinations happening on a daily basis. We are seeing more hate than love, more division than compassion, more isolation than consolidation. Is it not time to try to come together with each other, find our common ground and work with each other to make our world a better place?
In my lifetime I have seen John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, John Lennon, and now Charlie Kirk assassinated by people who had hate in their hearts and minds. I read and hear of attacks on innocent people by strangers for no reason. This has to stop.
We are at a TURNING POINT. We do not have to agree on every little thing. We don’t have to agree on all the major things. But we need to find the things we CAN agree on, and we just might be surprised on how many more there are than the ones we disagree on.
It is time we put our differences and misunderstandings aside and unite in our common shared beliefs and opinions. Please make the choice to reach out to each other to join in making this world – and particularly our country – a better place.
God bless you, everyone.
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