WHEN HATRED AND ANGER ARE ALL THATS LEFT

I am heartbroken. Are you? Emotions are front and center in todays environment. You cant turn on the T.V., News, Radio or even search the web without seeing it at its best and at its very worst.  Emotions are complex. Rarely do I feel just one. I have found that I feel as many as 3 or 4 at a time sometimes. I have also found that other people will play off of these emotions, react and be influenced by them. Sometimes they will even try to manipulate my emotions. Sometimes they are extremely smooth in the attempt to manipulate my emotions and sometimes I can tell this is their intention fairly easy. However, I have learned to not let these manipulative attempts rule the day.

Emotions are God given gifts to help us to enjoy life, process difficult times in our lives, bond with one another and protect us. They are beautiful and should be appreciated. There is nothing like the bliss of your wedding day, “wedding night”, holding your newborn child in your arms and winning the Power Ball. “I have never won the powerball. But I do like to daydream about it. Ahhhhh….. A vacation in Aruba maybe. O.K. Back to work now…

I have had the rare privilege of learning to fight the hard way. I have been attacked by gangs a couple of times. Praise God, I survived the beatings. I learned how to fight in the process. I still lost of course. But I found there is something to be learned even in losing. Thank you Jesus. Righteous anger seemed to have given me super human strength and speed. Fear seemed to heightened my awareness and senses. I am grateful for these raw emotions. Sometimes you can’t avoid the fight. I do believe in defending myself and the weak.

However, there are times you can avoid the fight. Highly recommended.  Here is where it pays to develop and learn to control emotions by learning patience, restraint, negations and empathy. Controlling your emotions by prayer and meditation. Reading, understanding the human condition and developing relationships in diverse settings is so important now days. Communication! A wonderful thing…

But today, there is something very sinister, calculated and manipulative bringing out the very worst in us and our fellow man. Media is the vehicle in which people are  being manipulated and information  weaponized to turn brother against brother. Who are the puppeteers? As it has been often said….   “Follow the money”. While we, “color vs. pale”, “country vs. country”, “class vs. class” are tearing each other apart,  there are people getting filthy rich off the horror. There are people gaining great power and wealth off of the bloodshed of brother killing brother. Where will it end? Who will win? What will our country look like? How much will it cost us. Not just in dollars but in emotional currency. What will it cost our children?

I SAY STOP! NOW! Turn off the tube. Shut Down the horror and violence by turning off the computer. Staying off social media. At least limiting our time and what we are willing to look at, read and engage in. Invest the time in, “Senseless Acts of Kindness to each other”.  Especially across, social, economic and racial divides. Human to human. One people, one color, one family. Allowing each family member to be who God made them to be. Accepting of one another. Nurturing of one another. Kind and loving toward one another. And not letting a money driven internet and greedy politicians control us, causing blood to flow in the streets.

The proper response to the discontent we see between the young and the old is good old fashioned love and communication. Proverbs 15, NIV “A Gentle answer turns away wrath”. We must change the way we are addressing each other and the issues of the day. Every young child, every baby, every innocent teen will be left with the apocalyptic ruins of what is left if we do not calm ourselves and each other, NOW! Peace is the prescription of the day. Wash it down with a tall glass of love. Living Water… What is the desire you have for the future of your children and grandchildren, your family and friends after you are gone? I know the answer… Peace and joy. Spread this message by simply living it every day.

We must take the power away from those who are prospering from the hatred. Lets not play this ugly game they have thrust upon us. We deserve better. Our future depends on our ability to communicate with kindness and patience. Violence solves nothing. Our children and our children’s children deserve better. Lets build a legacy of love and respect of all people. God never intended for us to be carbon copies of one another. Diversity and being unique should be celebrated and nourished.

If we cannot master our own emotions with our intellect, we may find ourselves in a world where, “HATRED AND ANGER ARE ALL THATS LEFT”. GOD FORBID, I PRAY.

Written By:

Robert S. Newberry, “Sinner”