Speaking Freedom

“Our greatest freedom is our ability to choose our attitudes.” – Victor Frankl

I’ve been pondering all the damaging remarks on the internet and how they apply to Frankl’s statement. Can’t we all do better than that?

A weekly conversation between Pastor and Assistant Pastor at the Heart of Steamboat United Methodist Church about societal attitudes and racial bias has been taking place on-line. I’ve been following the conversation because when we know better, we do better.

It seems to me that SOME of our country’s past inequalities was simply because people did not know the implications of their words/actions/attitudes. Perhaps we need to forgive our fore bearers and ourselves when we have known not what we were doing.

The damage on the psyche that attitudes of cultural bias has is now at the forefront. As we go forward we need to do life differently by being more conscious of our attitudes and our words.

• We can chose listening and learning from one another or dismissal.
• We can select hope or despair.
• We can be forgiving or bitter people.
• We can chose ways to love or hate.
• We can speak out in anger or look for understanding.
• We can look for the common good or focus on divisiveness.

I know which choices I try to make.  But we need to be mindful people rather than blaming people. The past is over and we can not go back and redo history. And no one on Earth is perfect. Everyone’s life experience and cultural upbringing is different.