Love Thy Neighbor

I have always been frustrated with the practice of “grouping” people and making all responsible for the actions of some within a group or making a “judgement” on their character. You and I can fall into sooooo many groups, all of which have good, bad, and I will include evil, in the mix. I don’t appreciate when someone categorizes my character, my beliefs, etc. based on a group I fall under -vs- me as the person, “Carol”. I’m sure I fail sometimes, but my goal is to never group people together, but rather evaluate what I see in an individual. And even then, because of Christ in me, any initial response usually includes the question “why does that person do, say, believe what they do”. I do this not to excuse behavior, but to try to understand it and the belief behind it.
Loving thy neighbor, starts there. All we need to know to prove that point is to think on how we personally have responded to a situation prior to it being a situation that involved someone we love. I dare to say that once we’ve had a direct experience with a loved one stealing, cheating, lying, being arrested, having an abortion, and a host of other heart wrenching (often anger inducing) actions, we’ve been left to consider the “why” for them and we try to love them through it. Now, obviously we cannot know every single person on this earth. But we can make a choice to admit “we don’t know what we don’t know”.
Every day presents choice after choice to make. Choose wisely.
On a political note, the political climate we are in today is not a function of one person’s actions. It is a function of several and choices that were made along the way, not just by them but by those around them and, yes, even those made by you and I.
All of this to just encourage everyone to take a step back. Re-consider getting in spats over social media. You really want to grow? You really want to learn? Invite people into your home to talk in person. Set ground rules and confirm the goal. Start with those you already love but who may think differently than you do and let each tell their “story”. This is a great way to practice; and if we can’t start small, there’s not much chance we’re going to be able to go big well.

Here’s my last thought: “If you find yourself to believe you’re the smartest one in the room; go find another room.”

Said in love and a hope for our country.
Carol