Spectacular Spectacular

I’ve been fearful this week, deep into my gut.

Fearful of what I’m witnessing, the terror and rage and hate and destruction.

And that’s just on social media.

I’ve been fearful for our world as we know it, fearful of our lives and thinking about the way they can be devastated in a moments notice. I’ve been fearful of the next shoe to drop. Locally. Nationally. Globally.  I’ve been fearful of what fear is doing to us as a society, moving us so far away from our humanity that it is difficult if not impossible to recognize ourselves anymore.

I’ve never had fear reside in my life like this. Mom always said, “Misti, you’d dance with the Devil if he could two-step. That’s why I worry.”

So this is a new kind of ick, and I don’t want it to settle in, pitch a tent and live inside of me.

I know that many out there, friends, family, acquaintances must be dealing with the same thing. We are all trying to navigate it, and while some are doing that quietly, some are putting on a show that compares to “Spectacular! Spectacular!” 

I know some of the things I’ve read this week make me stop and double check who I’m reading, because oh my Lord, the anger and the hate…that doesn’t live naturally in these people. It’s been perhaps the most polarizing time, the most polarizing topic I remember witnessing. I see loving, generous, and Godly people who are baring their teeth and behaving like barbarians. In the name of God.

That breaks my heart.

It seems to me, that when we feel passionately about something…that is a good thing.

It’s when we lose sight of the ability to understand and communicate with those that feel just as passionately about the other side, that we begin to erode.

And hey, I don’t hang out with people and talk non-stop with those who think that people I love are abominations and shouldn’t have their civil rights. I’m not suggesting that.

The danger comes when we begin to disregard civil thought, logical and critical thinking and dialogue that includes all sides, and only focus on our own.

We have history that shows us what destruction comes from thinking like that.

I think we’re all reacting, living in this fear.

It seems to me, that’s what the bad guys want.

Turn on each other.

Fight each other.

Hate each other.

Destroy friendships and cut ties with those that you once loved.

Set it all on fire as you walk away.

Nurture and feed your anger.

Participate in social media with the intention of degrading those that have a different thought.

You either believe exactly like me or your are the enemy.

Behave that way. Break each other down.

 

I don’t think anyone wants to open the doors to terror in our world. Come on in! Blow us up! Have a great day! I think we can all agree that we do not want that. Right?

I don’t think that we are all so inhumane as to not see the need, the desperate need to help our brothers and sisters on this planet. From our homeless, to our addicted, to our children, to our veterans, to our elderly, to our hungry, to those seeking a better world in our country. Right?

There’s a middle conversation here, that no one is having. I’m only seeing one side or another, tearing the other side down in a bloody, hate driven war.

And that might be what scares me the most.

We don’t really even need the bad guys.

We’re doing their work for them.