Passion without Persecution

My desire, for this blog, was to create a venue that would allow me to express my concerns and offer solutions, not just complain. Hopefully in doing so, I could connect with others who feel the same and together, discuss ways to bring about change in a positive way. I do believe that I am not alone and that, when like minded people get together, corperately great things can happen. Our Founding Fathers proved that already. I believe everyone has something to contribute and realize that my views are not everyones ( or for that matter, always right ) and I look forward to your comment, either for or against.

Because I want to glorify God in All I do, I often ask fellow Christians to look over my posts and hold me accountable, not just in the content of my posts but in the attitude of my words. A Dear friend, whom I trust, mentioned that I need to "stay gracious" in the way I handle different opinions ( thanks VB, I can always count on you ) and to not make monsters out of people with different views than mine. Now, If I meant what I said about "everyone has something to contribute", then I need to be careful of my attitude towards those who may oppose my point of view. I am the first to admit that I can get a little "passionate" when i express my views and, when I get on a roll, I can lose sight of my overall objective here. But, even more, I need to remember that others feel just as passionate about their opinions. You see sometimes, I feel, we tend to draw lines in the sand between those who agree with us and those who don't. We build a wall and label the opposition; Left or Right, Republican or Democrat, Liberal or Conservative and forget the the common denominator. We start to look at the other as, the ones who want to destroy our country, want to tear down not build up or even worse, as the enemy. We forget that, We are ALL Americans, more importantly, We are ALL Children of God. I really doubt that there is a secret desire, in the hearts of those who oppose our views, to destroy "Our Country". I do believe that their goal is the same as ours, it's just that they have very differant ideas on how to achieve them. That does'nt make them the "Enemy".

Instead of always trying to get the other side to see things the way we do ( and visa versa ) We ALL need to pull together as a Nation. The first thing we should do is find our common ground, find what we All can agree upon. Re-discover the thread that binds us all together. From there and there only, I believe, is where we can really start to take steps in the right direction. The direction of healing and rebuilding of this great country.

We can agree to disagree. We can voice our opinions and express our ideas but, in doing so, let's not forget that the ones who might not agree with us are not monsters or the enemy. They're just like us, citizens of The United States of America

A note to myself.