Editorial
By Kevin Wondrash
A great way to instill confidence in one’s readers is to headline a piece with those six words above.
If I don’t know what to say, why am I here?
I had a wonderful time during Lent. I spent practically no time on my personal social media. It was great. I didn’t see any arguing. I didn’t get angry at various stories or comments. I didn’t feel like I should be doing something better with my time like counting the number of times my ceiling fan rotates in a minute or tossing playing cards into a hat.
You know, things that are probably better for mind, body, and soul than straining one’s eyes on social media.
Then came Easter Sunday. The Caffeine Free Pepsi was drunk. The donut was eaten. The bacon was fried for breakfast. He is risen. Life was good.
Then phone came out.
Facebook and Twitter were looked at.
“Now I’m sad.”
I don’t remember exactly what stories I looked at were or what the subject matter was, but the bottomless pit of negativity and ugh was showing its ugly head in my life.
“Everyone is still at it,” I thought to my disappointed self.
I realize no one is forcing me to be on social media, much less look at it, but I’m too hopeful of the good that those forums can provide — connecting with friends, seeing the happy moments of their lives that they are sharing, or announcements of super deluxe CD box sets that I probably don’t need, but I’m enticed by digital remasterings of mono mixes and newly-released outtakes that I’ve only read about and never heard with my own ears.
A great divide
Fast forward to, not that much longer into the future. Today is Friday, April 16.
There are a lot of things people are disagreeing with and arguing about.
One of the topics is the various COVID-19 vaccines and their effectiveness, their morality, and their necessity.
And, we have a lot of shootings in the news. Articles and opinions are plentiful surrounding the shootings of Daunte Wright in Minnesota and Adam Toledo in Chicago.
“George Floyd” and “Derek Chauvin” are also trending as that related trial is ongoing.
And, for good measure, Steven Avery is back in the news over some potential new evidence and we just might have Making a Murderer season three being teased sometime soon.
There are quite divided opinions on all of these current events, but after a while, it’s the same arguments and buzz words being said back and forth and the rhetoric really doesn’t advance.
I could share my thoughts and opinions on any or all of these topics, but it wouldn’t do any good.
No matter what I say, someone will get angry, take offense to it, tell me who I voted for based on words that have nothing to do with who I voted for, or accuse me of other things.
Actually, the fact that I’m saying nothing will probably upset someone either because of the fact that I said nothing, or they’ll read between imaginary lines and see something that isn’t really here.
As Charlie Brown might say “AAUGH!” (Yes, I looked up the actual “quote”.)
What can we say?
I’ve said this before, but when trying to deal with the problems of the world, the best place to start is if we, everyone on all “sides” can admit there are problems.
Whether one blames an officer for drawing his or her gun too soon, or one blames the shooting victim for running or resisting, can we at least all agree these situations are not ideal?
I know I said I wouldn’t say anything, but if the sole fact of acknowledging that there are problems in this world — people being shot, police officers having to use deadly force, a virus that causes physical harm or kills people, people losing faith in the Church and distancing themselves from God (yeah, I went there, too) — can’t even be agreed upon and unsaid, then we’re worse off than I thought.
Perhaps a lot of the problem is we talk too much (says the man with the printed forum with which to speak his mind).
With the emergence of social media, people who disagree with each other have their best potential to argue with each other.
In times past, most people usually interacted with those they got along with and generally agreed with on certain issues — or, by nature of their closeness or familiarity, were more patient with each other in regards to disagreements.
Social media has no patience.
Neither do many of us.
Nor do all of the people that see what’s going on around us and don’t like it.
So quick to blame we are, and not truly solve anything.
When all we do is blame, our only solutions are to isolate ourselves from those who are “wrong”.
That’s not an option.
We’ve all got to get along.
Our very lives depend on it.