Libtard.  Deplorable.  Snowflake. Uneducated. Elitist. Extremist.  The Oxford Dictionaries actually has a list of the top ten negative terms applied to liberals and conservatives by overall frequency.  I’m serious.  Social media is full of these terms, some of them coming from my old and new friends alike.  So, I thought it would be interesting to ask my Facebook friends to label me based on my attendance at the March for Our Lives this past weekend.  At the very least, I was hoping to be labeled either liberal/conservative or democrat/republican.  But I was surprised – and slightly disappointed.

I was especially disappointed when I saw that many of my friends, the ones who tend to be very politically vocal on social media, some of them contributing to the frequency of those negative terms, not a one of them called me a name.  Not one!  In fact they didn’t call me anything at all, good or bad.  I can’t decide if the lack of acknowledgement is a good or bad thing.  After all, if you can’t say something good, don’t say anything at all, right?

What did happen was very eye opening as well.  Rather than be labeled, my friends listed positive character traits, things that they have observed personally.  Things that they believe they know about me.  I was beyond humbled, but it completely changed the direction of this blog.  I did have one friend who questioned me on something I posted about the march and what it was for.  We’ve known each other for over 40 years, so he cut me a break.  He’s an extremely honest person who speaks his mind but he gave me grace, obviously because he knows me.  But I wonder how much grace he would give someone else with the same passions I have whom he didn’t know?

I think you can see where this is going now.  It’s so easy to call someone terrible names if we don’t know them, especially if it’s over social media.  It’s the cowardly way out.  For most people, it’s difficult to call someone a name to their face, but it’s even more difficult if it’s someone you know well.  You want to give them the benefit of the doubt because you’ve seen multiple sides of their personalities and have interacted with them. So why is it that we determine that everyone we DON’T know is so one-dimensional?  It makes no sense. While it’s a powerful emotion, not every action is driven by fear, as some would make you believe.  There are countless variables that contribute to how we think, feel and believe.  For goodness sake, we have got to stop pigeonholing and see everyone as the diverse people we all are.  And we don’t have to agree with all of them to be able to get along like civilized human beings.

And while we’re at it, let’s define “know”.  Reading about someone in the news (which may or may not be slanted) does not qualify you as “knowing” them.  You may think you know them based on what you’ve read or heard, but until you sit with them and listen to their story, you don’t know them.  I’ve certainly fallen into that trap myself, but I really believe that nobody is 100% evil incarnate and nobody is 100% angel.  It’s called being human.

Let’s go back the march.  I had never participated in a protest or march of any kind and it was interesting to see how many people used the march to promote their own agenda or philosophy.  And maybe that’s what it’s all about and if so, the 1st Amendment is alive and well.  I’m pretty sure the intelligent, articulate students who lead the march (and I DID know a few of them) are just tired of wondering if this is the day it happens at their school.  As for me, I marched because I’m tired of having to practice hiding with children so they hopefully won’t get shot to death.  That’s just the plain, harsh truth.  I don’t know what the answer is, but we won’t ever find an answer if we can’t stop calling each other names over social media like kids on a playground.

Now, I’m not going to share with any of you how I vote because frankly, that’s none of your business.  I will share several things that you may or may not know about me that may or may not change your mind about how you feel about me.  I have been a registered Republican since I could vote, but I tend to vote with my brain and not always along party lines.  I became saved in a Presbyterian Church and baptized by immersion in a Southern Baptist Church.  I grew up in a military family and absolutely believe in the 2nd amendment, but I question the logic of people owning certain weapons “just because they can”.  I believe that while a generation has created some of the issues we see due to their helicopter parenting (aka “snowflakes”), I also see a light from the next generation that tells me things are going to get better.  And I was marching for all of them because they deserve to live and attend school without fear.

Those of you who know me know my heart.  It’s all about the kids, always.  Hopefully we can teach them to speak to each other face to face in a civil way, giving grace for those things they don’t agree with, working together to find consensus and leaving the name calling on the playground where it belongs.  And perhaps it’s time for the adults to grow up now and be the examples these kids need.