Living Without Offense

Defense wins championships, right? But offense sells tickets!

Think about that for a second in the context of the issues right now in our world. Next, think of it in the context of the media. Then, think of it in the context of your life.

Historically speaking, we are in some of the most tumultuous times in human history. There’s the obvious issue with racial inequalities that are front in center in just about everything right now. Additionally, there’s the other obvious issue of COVID-19 circulating everything. Oh, and then let’s not forget about the political climate in our country. Of course there are other major issues, but those are the ones taking center stage right now.

• Make a post on social media about racial injustices and now you’re a social justice warrior. But do you actually do anything about it?
• Make a post on social media about “mask wearing” and now you’re a health justice warrior. How’s the rest of your health doing?
• Make a post on social media about “Presidential inadequacies” and now you’re a government justice warrior. Have you run for office?

Social media is a blessing and curse, but at this point in our history, it’s becoming a curse on humanity. It’s creating factions almost as if we are living in the movie Divergence. It’s creating camps of ME vs YOU and if you aren’t on my side, you’re my enemy! How did this happen? If we all agreed on everything, we’d be robots and life sure would be boring. Whatever happened to agreeing to disagree and still respecting one another?

I’m a packer fan. That just elicited a reaction from a lot of readers, but hopefully most have a rational response to my allegiance to Packerland. They may disagree with me, and maybe even poke some jabs at me, but I think most rational humans would simply agree to disagree. Why can’t it be the same with these other issues?

Now, let’s do a social experiment, and I’ll put myself at risk to the scrutiny and criticism for my beliefs below:

• I’m conservative in my political views. Do you dislike me now?
• I believe Jesus can absolutely heal our nation and everyone in it. Do you hate me?
• I haven’t worn a mask yet. Do you think I don’t care about others?
• I believe the vast majority of law enforcement are great humans. Do you want to put me on blast?
• I think violent protest creates further division. Do you think I am a racist now?
• I believe that much of the media is inaccurate, biased, manipulative, and destructive. Do you think I’m delusional?

These topics above tend to be trigger topics that get people hot and bothered PDQ. Why can’t we have respectful conversations with one another? There doesn’t need to be two polar opposites on these topics. Chances are if we just slowed down a bit, I’d bet we all agree upon more than we disagree upon. Heck, I think even most of us would like one another!

To summarize, what if we didn’t get defensive or offensive on emotional issues? What if we decided to not take offense at all? I believe in most cases, offense is taken when it was never given in the first place. This has to stop “Merica.