Life In The Headlights

It seems like each and every day there is something new and  many times evil on the horizon.

Each generation has commented - "it's not like it was in the good old days". But what exactly were the "good old days"?

If we go back to the days of the caveman, a minor dispute would have been settled with whoever had the meanest "hoot", gesture or looked more intimidating when baring their teeth at another. If that didn't suffice, they would move on to brute strength, or whatever weapon they could find such as rocks, clubs, spears and throwing sticks. They would beat or stab their opponents to death.

News of what happened would most likely stay between the two involved or at the most the "family" or "group" unit in which they lived. And life, for the victor at least, would go on.

Move further into history to the 1800s and weaponry advanced. Now, if there was a problem disputes were settled with harsh words, brute force, intimidation and ultimately shoot their opponents, strangle them, stab them etc. Again, it was possible if they were the only two involved, and no one was around - the incident might never be discovered.

Skip to today. In today's climate, those who commit a crime against another can be held accountable. From threats and intimidation to outright murder - there is supposed to be a system in place to take care of it. And now, we hear about it - every, single day. And, we not only hear about those which occur near us, but also those that occur clear across the country or even in another country. The word is spread seemingly instantaneously.

Technology has allowed that news media can "get the word out", and now it has been joined by social media. Problem with that - sometimes the "word" isn't always accurate. It's like an experiment a teacher did for us when I was in school (yes, that was a day or two ago). I had a teacher in elementary who one day had us all sit in a row. She whispered something to the first person and then they in turn would whisper it in the ear of whoever was next to them. And so on, and so on.

When it came to the last person in the row, they stood up and said what they had been told. Guess what? Most of the time it came out completely different than how it started.

If I remember correctly, I believe she was trying to teach us a lesson in how damaging repeating stories over and over again can be - especially if they don't come out the way intended or started.

I have watched over and over again how stories have been repeated. Sources not checked out for reliability. "News" being repeated only now with a twist of creativity from the teller.

Yes, technology is great. When it works properly.

Social media has made it even easier for individuals to repeat something, say something, etc., in just a moment's notice. Gone are the days of "take a deep breath" and "think before you speak". And damage from that behavior is, let's say, not getting any better.

I have said for some time I really don't believe God is going to send a flood or pestilence, etc., to destroy this earth again. He won't need to. We are doing a bang up job destroying ourselves without any help at all.

Each day, I hope and pray people will suddenly have an epiphany and say, "hmmm, perhaps today I should forgo social media for awhile. Take a breath and think before I act, speak, etc. Maybe I should be sure of my sources before I repost something." I know I have been guilty of it, but I am trying to do better. We all should try to do better.