I have been pondering the tone of the current public dialogue, and it hurts my heart to see how we have come to a place where 1) People’s identities are wrapped up in their opinions, so if you disagree with them, it is taken personal; and 2) We can Google information to back up any opinion, so now everyone right!
In the middle of what I am calling a perfect storm (Commission of Inquiry-pandemic-recession-hurricane recovery), the only place I know to start is to caution us to take our foot off the gas pedal, pull back the throttle, and turn our brains back on!
I recently read 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13, and I realise talking about love is easy. Living it is another. Check out verses four and five: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”
But here is the kicker in how we act loving in verse 11: “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”
People have been speaking about political maturity of late, and, in my opinion, maturity is adults behaving as adults and not adult-children.
Think about it. We all love it when we are right, but we need to make room for the possibility of being wrong sometimes and learning from someone else’s viewpoint — and, if nothing else, to feel empathy for them.
In this moment, Virgin Islands family, let’s take a deep breath and think about what is important. You will find that proving your “theories” is less important than the relationships and common-unity that we need to be building right now instead of tearing down each other. Let’s practise some #1C13LOVE and be our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper — even when you feel like they are acting crazy right about now. One love!