I think I must be old.
I used to thrive on controversy. I would follow the news and politics and I passionately took sides. I thrived on debate. I liked juicy details. Life was a thrill ride.
Now… Not so much.
I opened my news apps this evening and found an op-ed piece lambasting Beyonce’s choice of garb for her Time cover. I saw another one criticizing John Oliver’s new show, and another discussing a new gay marriage battle.
Do these issues matter? Most of them.
Should we follow our opinions on them to their logical end and test them against our values? Definitely.
Should we do it right now? Perhaps that’s where the issue lies.
Twenty years ago I couldn’t lay in bed with an iPad and read the news. If people wanted to start a fight with me, they would have had to call me or stop by. I had no way of knowing what my third grade teacher’s daughter thought about an issue because Facebook wasn’t constantly broadcasting it to me.
As a society, I think we are cognizant of the ways social media can influence teens and bullies and their targets; we understand the harm these forms of media can do to self esteem, and we know how easy it can be to get lost in them.
But what about the constant culture of discord? Do we pay attention to the cost of that? Do we understand how it informs our attitudes? Does it constantly put us on the defensive?
I’ve been accused of both naïveté and cynicism. I’m not sure which is more true or if they are even mutually exclusive, but what I do know is that sometimes I just want peace. I want to read about people helping others and the world being made brighter. I want to fill the only soul I will ever have with hope and light and promise. I need to understand the conflict but I want to reside within the peace.
I want to close my doors, and sit in my home with my family and make of it what I choose.
The world can have its drama and intrigue and conflict. For me and mine I want to cultivate harmony.
Is that too much to ask?