Share (Five Minute Friday)

(The five minute friday rules: write, unedited, for 5 minutes. link with the group at Kate's place (see bottom), and then read the post before yours and leave some encouragement for a fellow writer. Join us!)

 
Go.
I got some news last week that made me sad. Made my heart hurt. And then later on I read some news articles about the election. And those, too, made my heart hurt. There is a lot of hate and anger and negative energy and name calling happening. I grew up around politics. People used to hold protests in my front yard for crying out loud. The disagreements go back as far as the existence of people really. But I don't recall (granted, I am only 39) this level of flat out ridiculousness.

And so with this week's prompt I am going to share some thoughts.

Just because you and I don't support the same candidate does not make one of us right and the other one wrong. We can disagree and still have a healthy dialogue - about issues, about choices, about candidates, about the direction in which we should go. And at the end of the day , we can still be friends.  Different perspectives is part of what makes the world better. If everyone had the same opinion about everything life would be dreadfully boring. There would be nothing to talk about.

BUT ... talk. Discuss. No need to yell, shout, threaten, and belittle. I am trying to teach my kids to do better with this, and I need to do better with this, and in fact everyone needs to do better with this. You don't need to convince me to join your side. And if you do, or if you even want to try, here's a little hint: yelling at me isn't going to do it.

Unrelated to politics, but very related to talking: sharing is part of what we are all here for. Grieving: call a friend and share a cry. Get terrific news: call a friend and share your squeals of delight. Have a hard day - don't isolate yourself. There are people who will listen. Whether it's listening to you talk about whatever happened, or listening to you talk about anything but what happened. Or go, sit with someone, cry on their shoulder or get a hug and just sit in silence together. Something. Anything. Find a place to share ... because if you try to walk through life 100% alone, eventually something (big ... or small ... or small but it feels big because you can't see around/past/through it) will hit you that you can't do alone. Can't face alone. Or just can't bear to think about alone. When that time comes, I pray you have someone to share with, or someone to talk too. There's a hotline. There are people ... friends, neighbors. co workers. counselors. family.

Find someone. Share something. Call for help. Someone will be there.

Stop.

Resources for help

Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255

Or go here and click to chat.

Someone is there, ready and waiting to help you.



Sharing as a part of the Five Minute Friday community hosted by Kate. Join us there every week.