Today I was asked what I write about. This is always a hard question for me, though it shouldn’t be. Is my blog a journal? God, I hope not. I said I like to write about things going on in the world, but I like to keep it positive. There is enough negativity in the world I don’t need to add to it. I like to be part of the solution, not the problem, even though I have yet to find a cure for cancer or global warming. You see I believe kindness needs a voice. In a world where so many feel alone or angry, where being loud or vocal gets the attention, I want a place where I can quietly contemplate and hopefully start meaningful discussions.
Recently I’ve been off Facebook (though admittedly I’ve cheated by peeking occasionally). But being off has given my brain a rest from the hamster wheel of information. I still like seeing what friends are up to, but I don’t miss the one-sided political talk. We as a nation have lost our ability, it would seem, to have a reasonable conversation. I want to hear about things from those who I don’t agree with. If I’m living in a vacuum of opinions that are only like mine, I wonder why things can’t be the way I would like them. After all, the rest of the world apparently agrees with me, or so says my Facebook feed most of the time. How do we fix that algorithm to improve the conversation? Now I’m not going to say I’m suddenly going to agree with you, but maybe if we talk and compromise, we can come to a mutually agreeable solution. What would be so wrong about that?
There are certain topics of course that seem to polarize. Abortion springs to mind. But just as not everyone agrees, most agree we should have less and perhaps that is the starting point. Instead of people getting upset about guns being taken away, maybe we could agree that assault rifles aren’t something that everyone needs access to. I’m not a fan of guns in general, but hey, if someone wants to hunt for sport and dinner, well I suppose I could live with that. I suspect those who do hunt aren’t doing it with AR15s. But maybe we could start a conversation. Find the things we have in common. You like nature, I like nature. You have kids, I have kids. Maybe we could start there? Feel free to join the conversation. Just do so courteously. That is all I ask. You don’t have to agree. We can always agree to disagree after all.