When we really take a moment to look back on this, what exactly is this saying accomplishing? Telling you to keep quiet if you disagree with someone? Not exactly. What our parents usually mean by this is that were not supposed to whip out an insult whenever we feel insulted. It's especially potent when considering that children have the propensity to be insulted by anything and everything.
But, these days, when every little thought is so easily shot out into the universe via the internet, it's easier for us to regress back to those childhood days when hurt feelings would be immediate cause to spit out a "stupidhead" that would get us tossed right into writing-I-will-not-say-stupidhead-1,000-times territory. Except, of course, we're older now. Our words are a little more volatile, our meanings are a little more acidic. And every time someone brings us to that boiling point, we find that we've even more deeply entrenched ourselves into our world view because we don't like the idea of someone who hurt our feelings being right.
This Tuesday, it's going to get heated--as if it hasn't been bad enough already. I've heard the saying "Don't be so open-minded that your brains fall out" being tossed around quite a bit by both sides these days, ironically enough. And while it's easy to think of ourselves as that sole member of society who believes the right thing (who IS open-minded, but also grounded), we have to remember that pretty much every other person out there is going to feel the same way. And the worst possible way to see things from another person's point of view, or to get anyone to see things from our point of view, is to play the "stupidhead" game when they don't instantly agree.
When Tuesday rolls around, whatever happens is going to happen, and we should all play our part to uphold the teachings of the church and to exercise our rights as Americans and as Catholics. But let's also remember that we're not "fighting" against a "cause" as though we were the protagonists in the latest young adult novel about some dystopian society. The "sides" we perceive are composed of human beings who have beliefs. And it's important to view them as we would want to be viewed: first and foremost as people. Not ignorant people. Not uninformed people. Not wrong people.
Just people.
So, as we careen toward the next election, let us take the time to remember that our mothers' saying still applies.
And so does Jesus's...
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your
soul, and with all your mind.’
This is the
greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
~Matthew
22:37-40
Much love!
Ceci Galvin
CYM
