I am increasingly disgusted with my society . . . And myself. If social media has done anything to us, it has made us into professional pundits and quick-draw responders.
From the obviously poor parenting of zoo-goers, to the clearly poor judgment of zoo owners, to the (more close to home) poor use of the road by bike riders, we all know and judge things too quickly. Myself included. And part of the problem is, that we do not often even allow the time for the reality to set in. Can you imagine YOUR child being drug around by a 400 pound gorilla?
Do we feel before we comment? Is there any sacred space for quiet, for silence, for the humility that says we just don’t know the details and to be quite frank, the details often are gratuitous, unnecessary and sometimes even get in the way of the true point of pain and hardship.
Often our interest in sharing our own opinion stems from a growing insatiable appetite for trivia without any emotional attachment. We are consumers of information porn. We have a hunger to know things that we do not need to know. We have apparently strong opinions about things that do not need our opinion but instead our prayers! But even I often share too quickly. In the wake of the tragic bike accident in Kalamazoo I have heard enough criticism of bike riders using the roadways, that I have responded in person as well as on social media. But my concern in my response is that it is too soon!
Consider this, what if all of those bike riders were breaking the law? Does that mean that they deserved what happened? Is this the time to debate and lobby for your personal opinions regarding bikes on the road!? Arguing about fault doesn’t really help anyone in tragedy. And as a community, we ought to take a collective moment to pause in humility, acknowledge we don’t have all the details, and regardless of the details, we should mourn with those who mourn, and pray for those who are even now fighting for their lives.
Let’s work together to be slower to jump to conclusions and be quicker to jump to our knees.
