Agree to a Degree

I have heard my friends say that they don’t watch the news or read the papers (how antique can you get!) because it “bums” them out and shapes their thinking negatively. I understand and even agree to … well, a degree. However, I do have a variety of sources available to me today that my parents had not even imagined to exist. And I don’t accuse others who are less interested in the news of the day of sticking their heads in the sand though. I know that the most important thing is to act compassionately.

Acting compassionately can be applied to the problems of the day if I don’t allow myself to be driven knee-jerk by the differing slants presented on the nightly news, Huffington Post or Breitbart. Whatever kind of news junkie I am, it is important to me to know what folks are getting all fired up about and judge for myself where I stand. How might I apply spiritual principles to the issues of the day? Am I buying into the accusations and barrage of emotional slander of internet and television commentary?

Where can I encourage understanding and healing? Where can I put a hand out to opposing sides and find the humanity in those I would have detested otherwise? I couldn’t do so without constant conscious contact with the Heart of Compassion. The Heart of Compassion doesn’t see us as Democrats or Republicans. The Heart of Compassion sees right through skin color or ethnic identity. The problems of the world today, at the end of 2013, are not going to be solved by fueling the discord but by healing it. In other words, what can I learn from you if I respect your opinion in lieu of automatically writing you off as an ignoramus because of the flag you fly or the tattoos that cover you?

Are we so afraid to sit down with a Republican, a Libertarian, or  Democrat to discuss something as essential as health-care that we will not listen to what is being said? Can we get into a real conversation without falling back on talking points or personal accusations of racism or pinko/liberal subversive!

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