Turning Down the Volume

Why are we all so angry?  When did we all get so loud?

I am weary of the cacophony that occurs when opposites (religious, political, sports) assert that because they deeply believe they are right that that means the other side must be deeply wrong -- and worse than wrong, evil, or stupid, or deliberately obtuse.

And right now, as you read that sentence you are saying, "umm hm" because you are sure that I'm talking about them. 

I'm not talking about them.  I'm talking about us.  I mean, them and us.

I cannot possibly be the only person who believes it might behoove us all to learn when saying more words more loudly doesn't make us more right, or more noble, or more intelligent, or more possessed of some special insight.  

Sometimes it just makes us noisier.

I rarely discuss politics in the public forum, and I'm certainly not going to start doing that now. 

While I do write about faith on occasion, it's only mine on which I can speak with any true knowledge or insight, or authority.  

I am passionate about college football -- most especially the Crimson Tide -- but I don't believe it makes me morally or intellectually superior or more fun to be with than any of my friends who have a particular favorite of their own. 

And let's face it -- we seem to be incapable much anymore of recognizing when the horse just ain't gettin' up again.

I really do believe we can be different and remain civil, and if we can be that we might actually start to listen to one another again.  We might actually be able to hear ourselves think again.

Perhaps the biggest gift I have received from being hurt a couple months ago is that of craving silence.  I seem to have a threshold of noise/words/visual clues I can process in a day before I get skizzy.   

Lately, the volume has begun to go up on all the Big Issues again, and for whatever it's worth I am hereby withdrawing my own noise from those arenas.  

Exercise your right to vote or not.  Exercise your right to worship or not. Exercise your right to enjoy a good game in good spirits.

But I'm going to -- when I need not to hear all that noise -- take some time to just be quiet and watch this over and over.