There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. – Galatians 3:28
Remember the fill-in-the-blank booklets that let you create random stories or, worse, fill-in-the-blank exam questions? Today’s fill-ins sadly neither make us laugh nor test our knowledge.
- Democrats are…
- Republicans always…
- Teenagers never…
- White men over 65 are…
- Immigrants always…
- Blacks never…
- Millennials are…
- Christians never…
- Muslims always…
- Jews are…
- Lawyers never…
- Laborers always…
- Felons are…
- Police never…
- Women always…
And so on.
We paint broad brush strokes over a group of people who don’t appear to agree with our stance. We fill-in our own particular anger and characterize ALL of them with, at best, negative terms, and often, slanderous terms. Or we make demi-gods of them where they can do no wrong.
The truth is, we are not robots nor can you assign a character trait to ALL of any given group. Every group is made up of diverse people, all of whom are broken and imperfect in some way. In every one of the groups listed above I know someone who is good and kind and trying to make sense out of life. I also know someone in whom I would struggle to find the good and the kind.
When we paint with the broad brushes of ignorance and anger, when we are not careful of our language, we are part of society’s division and hate. We can be better than this.
Just Sayin' 