Virtual Vitriol

Meaningful discussions are in grave danger of extinction these days.

Why is that?

Why is every issue of the day so emotionally charged?

Take the current immigration debate for instance…

or, the entire presidency of Barack Obama.

I just had a friend visit from the States. He is definitely on the right, while I tend to have views that are more left-leaning.

One thing I tried hard to stay away from during his two-week visit…

any politically charged discussion…what-so-ever!

But you know there’s a really serious problem lurking underneath all this virtual vitriol…

the ability to arrive at any solution to any problem…what-so-ever!

Does it matter that people are hurting…

and hungry…

and the weather is getting weirder…

and the world more and more dangerous?

I can tell you that the views I once held on a whole host of issues, political and otherwise, were quite different from those I now hold on those same issues.

What does that tell you?

Could it be that what you think is the gospel truth right now at this moment in time…

really isn’t?

What if the things you take for granted turn out to be, well, just plain wrong.

What if those kids that are amassing at the border really aren’t after your jobs…

but just after a safe place to grow up in?

What if the Affordable Care Act doesn’t end up being the disaster you are so resolutely convinced that it will be?

What if President Obama really isn’t a socialist?

Or, the devil incarnate?

What if your being able to maintain a non-sustainable lifestyle really isn’t the best idea for people (yea, that includes you)…or planet?

To see the world as it really is…

a really big place with a whole lot of people possessing dramatically different viewpoints.

We have to get beyond the labeling…

and the sniping…

and the fixating on every idea that is not exactly in line with my way of thinking right now…

as being bad, evil even.

Calm and thoughtful discussion of issues is a healthy thing.

An approach that is less concerned with being right…

than it is about being effective…

delivering solutions that really work for the welfare of people and planet…

in general.

We all deserve that…

don’t we?