It was the only day I brought two paper bags to school.
One full. For lunch. A PB&J sandwich (grape jelly – is there anything else?) and Doritos (Nacho cheese. Cool Ranch hadn’t been invented.)
And one empty. For the back of my chair. With my name on it. A piece of tape holding it.
I unequivocally, completely, categorically refuse to take the bait.
I’m not gonna ridicule.
I’m not gonna scorn.
I’m not gonna assume.
And I’m not gonna mock.
Call it naive. Doesn’t matter.
It’s gonna be both.
Conviction and conversation.
Principle and humility.
Mouth and ears.
Life’s too short to be small.
Too eternal to be petty.
Too important to earn irrelevance.
People. All of ’em.
God’s fingerprint.
I refuse not to see it.
Think. Not react.
Period.
I’m not gonna hate the other side.
Either of ’em.
However correct I may feel about something, increased volume tends to compromise credibility.
Persuasion in the context of love rarely needs a microphone.
Wise is the one who recognizes the relationship between tone and reception. Between content and delivery. Between message and method.
Forgetting any of this makes it possible to be right and wrong at the same time.
Remembering any of this makes it possible to communicate more effectively, disagree more fairly, respect more fully, and love more genuinely.
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