When You Just Don't Care

You Come To A Point The Reason Doesn’t Matter

You come to a point in life where truth is more important than anything.

As a journalist, my professional life was all about learning to smell the faint odor that follows the path of a lengthy lie.

Like a doctor can sense disease, a journalist puts together bits and pieces of information to find not one conclusion but story after story, colliding into one messy narrative.

There are not two sides to every issue, but many.

You learn that after years of watching body language, looking for red flags, and making mistakes.

The internet has made everyone an expert.

In some ways, I think that’s great that people without experience can use their God-given discernment to come up with answers to culture’s big questions.

It’s taken “the message” out of the hands of journalists and into the everyday man and woman.

I do love that.

The problem is, the manipulators of messaging understand what we think better than we do.

They research our tolerance for spin and then push a narrative designed not to find the truth but to create their own.

Democrats do it, Republicans do it, and culture quietly plays along.

I’ve been caught up in it, tricked and lied to.

We all have.

What matters is that you seek the truth, not acceptance, peace, or sell your soul to the message of the masses.

After 66 years on this earth, I’ve come to the point where I’m starting to trust very little.

Oh, for those of you with faith in God, I know He is the only person next to my wife and children that I truly trust.

My lack is not a hopeless distrust but a healthy one.

I used to believe everyone had a voice and deserved to use it, even if I disagreed with them.

When asked, it was the reason I do what I do.

It was my mantra.

Mantras are meant to die, it seems.

I still believe the truly voiceless should be heard.

But there is also a segment of the population that needs to be ignored.

They aren’t looking for a resolution but instead a fight.

What has changed is that social media has given rise to hatred, used by platform holders who have no room for dissent and welcome only those who think like them.

That’s a very narrow audience, and I’m not interested in being part of that choir.

The keyboard is where my daily writing helps me lay out the things I feel and my beliefs.

But lately, the climate online has gotten so ugly that even non-confrontational thoughts bring vicious verbal assault.

I got a personal message from someone yesterday that said, “ You have some really horrible people commenting on your page.” I did laugh because it’s so true. He went on to say, “Even something about your mother brings out the hate.”

Yep, even dear old mom.

You come to a point where you stop caring about what is said and write anyway.

The haters have taught me that my mantra was based on a false premise.

The know-it-alls will pick out bits and pieces of my writing to make them feel better, but their critique doesn’t change anything.

They don’t care; they want to be heard.

Perhaps that’s my mistake for giving them a platform.

It’s good to look at the critique and modify where God tells you to change.

But what’s better is to come to the point where what they say really doesn’t matter.

I hope your week is a mantra crusher.