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I spent last weekend with friends in a little town called Grand Rivers, KY. We had cabins right by the water on beautiful Lake Barkley. We fell completely off our diets by eating ALL the fun foods, laughed a LOT, played games, took in the beauty of God’s creation, and saw a wonderful show at the Badgett Playhouse Theater. On Saturday afternoon, while we were relaxing on the deck, my phone started blowing up with texts. They all said the same thing: “Are you watching TV right now?”
My heart sank. Obviously something bad was happening. I answered the first text saying, “No, I’m not near a tv. What’s going on?” - “Looks like an assassination attempt on former President Trump! He’s ok, though.”
Good Lord. That’s all this country needs, right? More disturbed people with guns. Sigh…
I was glad to hear former President Trump was going to be ok. I was sad to hear others were hurt and someone even killed. At first I thought, “I need to find a tv and turn it on,” but then I quickly had a change of heart. Why let that madness seep into my beautiful day? There is literally nothing I can do to make the situation better. I can pray for those who got hurt, but that’s about it. So I said a silent prayer, and continued on with my day.
The old me would have thought that approach would be cold and uncaring. You just continued on with your day? That seems selfish! Actually, it’s taken me a LOT of therapy to understand healthy detachment and how important that can be for my mental health. It’s not that I don’t care. It’s about learning what to spend my mental and emotional energy on in the moment. Letting this situation that I have zero control over (the assassination attempt) wreck the precious time I had with friends who live far away and I rarely get to see in person would just be an unhealthy decision on my part. I could learn more about the news of the day later. Right now, I had more important things to focus on - my precious friends.
Later that evening another friend checked in. “Well, did you see the news?” I told her I had heard what happened but hadn’t watched and hadn’t even peeked on social media yet. She said social media was a dumpster fire and her advice was to just stay off for a bit. The next day, I bravely opened my feeds and sure enough she was right. It was indeed heartbreaking to say the least. The meanness and cruelty was almost breathtaking. I am not a fan of the former president, but I am more and more a non-violence advocate in all things and I do not want him to be killed, or even injured. This whole situation hurt several people, including the gunman and his family/friends. Violence is not the answer to our country’s problems. Violence IS the problem - or at least it’s a big part of it. Celebrating and making fun of this serious situation does no one any good. May God convict those who think it’s the appropriate response.
But things were about to get even worse on Monday.
Poor Ingrid Andress was the next victim of choice on social media. She was cruelly mocked because of her terrible performance of the National Anthem at the HR Derby. Nobody deserves to be humiliated and verbally abused because of a bad vocal performance. Yes, she has admitted to being drunk. Not ok. But clearly the girl has been struggling. Getting drunk before singing the National Anthem on tv for millions of people is your sign. She needs help, not cruelty.
What has happened to us? As a society, we are hitting rock bottom. People think it’s ok to mock, bully, dehumanize, attack anyone who they deem deserving of their ire. Have I used humor to defuse hard situations — ALL THE TIME. It’s my jam! Satire is the best, IMO. Sometimes laughing at the ridiculousness of a hard situation is a good thing. BUT, making a joke about a situation to lighten the moment and making a joke at the expense of a human being are two totally different things. All you have to do is get on social media to see that we desperately need some help here.
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