A Feast for the Full 7/3/2022

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

It has been wisely said that opinions are like bellybuttons. Everyone has one and some of them smell funny.  To call this true is an understatement.  We in this country seem to be filled with opinions.  I suppose I am fine with the variety of said opinions but for whatever reason it seems lately the population have lost all ability to grasp the fact that everyone may have a different opinion and it isn’t actually required that we vehemently attack those who don’t agree with us.  I am not sure if the racket is just louder as of late or if it has always been this loud and the medium of social media has turned the volume up to disconcerting levels.  Then again, the pros and cons of social media is a topic for another blog.  We do seem to have most assuredly lost the concept that we can in fact all have differing opinions and this does not in fact mean by default that we hate each other.  I am not sure where we came up with the notion that we all have to think the same way about everything for this society to function, but I do so wish we could return that ridiculous notion from whence it came.  As I pondered this idea about passionate viewpoints and adamant opposition of said viewpoints, I remembered the upcoming American holiday.  What an appropriate time to approach a very American issue. I won’t go so far as to say we have the monopoly in the matter of division, but we are certainly excessively efficient at discord.

Lately social media has made my head hurt more than usual.  Current events in this county have led to a stream of points being made. Some of them are deep and insightful that make one really sit and think.  Unfortunately, it seems the majority are points that are about as sharp as peanut butter and as deep as a toddler’s sippy cup. No, I don’t know where the “as sharp as peanut butter” analogy came from but even when I went just now to change it, something in the back of my mind insisted that it stay so, there it is. I feel like it paints a picture that serves the purpose well so I shall leave it in. You know the people I am referencing.  They are the ones that rant and rave often based on statements that are about as factual as someone saying I don’t like bread. For those who know me, you know. If you don’t know me, I would marry bread if that were a thing. That is how much I love it. Hopefully that paints the picture appropriately.  What do people have against facts lately? Either they just blatantly make up their own at which point I suppose they should no longer be called facts but more something along the lines of “fun stories that back up my ideas where truth is negligible.”  I could probably make up some relatively convincing concepts to back up my own ideas. However, I have this crazy concept that truth actually matters, even if it disagrees with me. I would rather have a painful truth on an issue than a comfortable lie. Sadly, it seems I am in the VAST minority in this.

Also, can I just give a tip to all those who feel the need to take up the fight on all these internet platforms?  Please, for the love of all that is good and holy, do not argue with someone telling them they have no right to tell you that you are wrong and do so by proceeding to tell them how wrong they are.  I am an easy-going person.  I do not anger easily, and I loathe confrontation. Even so, I do have a few pet peeves and interestingly enough, they all seem to be at play in this type of exchange.  I do not tolerate well adults acting like children.  If any of you have witnessed a behind-the-keyboard argument, you know that such idiocy is rampant. I have to argue with myself to not just attack the computer screen sometimes.  And, oh the humanity, hypocrisy is something else.  To attack a counter view with the identical methodology for which you degrade your opponent, oh my days, I just cannot cope with such.  Those people who insist those with opposing views be tolerant and respectful, all the while attacking those opponents with the venom of a cobra wearing a scorpion hat. No, I really don’t know where these metaphors are coming from, but they are for some reason endearing themselves to me, so I am leaving them in.

However, to tie all this into my country’s birthday, we have the luxurious freedom to be as brilliant and principled or as idiotic and ludicrous as we so desire. The freedom to express ourselves was afforded us from the very beginning of this nation. Sure, there are people that we wish would negate that right but there it sits for all of us.  We take it so for granted. There are countries where the slightest mention of dissent with the powers that be will make you, and possibly the majority of your family, disappear. Or even worse yet, you could appear on a video where your extermination is documented as a deterrent for other dissenters. We luxuriate in a society that we can be as blatantly wrong or as voraciously disagreeable as we like with no fear of governmental repercussions.  If we have lived here all our lives, I don’t know that we will ever grasp just how fortunate we are.  Oh America, we have our freedoms lavished upon us just to moan and groan over things those other nations could only dream about.  That is the thing about freedom though.  It is one of those things that you don’t really notice until it’s gone.  You don’t really understand the joy of good food until you are starving. I just have to pray that we don’t have to get to the point of an emaciated population before we can comprehend the joys of the freedom that we currently have. Happy Birthday America.  You are not perfect. But neither are your people.  Thank you for what you truly are. We really do genuinely appreciate it, despite how we act to the contrary sometimes.  Freedom is just so bright sometimes that we have to invent shadows purely for the sake of argument.  We do love you and those of us who might not seem to, really do, they just don’t know it. I just pray they never have to find out the hard way.