It is amazing when you step away – so much changes so quickly. I turned off my cable. I don’t get the newspaper. I feel cut off from news…but I had become so immersed in it that I felt the Lord tell me I needed to take a break. I don’t know if you have noticed that even the introductory music for the news shows creates tension! It just isn’t good for health.  Plus the cable was getting so expensive! I didn’t need all those channels. I only really watched two – sometimes a third local channel for the weather forecast. Political rancor was getting to me.

Why can’t both sides work together for the good of all? It seems some have a personal vendetta and won’t cooperate no matter what. They don’t care about this country; they just want to gum up the works. Shame on them. Where are the statesmen? And when someone does try to do a good thing, the other side tears them to shreds or belittle them. Who would want to serve this country under these circumstances? We are tearing ourselves apart.

I do have the Internet to look at each day to see what is going on. Yesterday before church, I quickly checked the Web and was so saddened to learn of the attack in London – again. The photos and news reports were disturbing. I am of the opinion that Britain – all of Europe – has been too lax in its immigration policies. It has become a haven for radical Islamists and perhaps it is too late. They are trying to close the barn door after the cows got out. I hope it will be a warning for this country.

For years I have said that our freedoms are going to hang us. And they are. Political correctness has gone amuck. The freedom of speech has been taken to extremes. If we express how we feel or think, we are labeled as an extremist, homophobe, racist, anti-Christian, anti-semitic…it’s nuts! So many labels. No longer is there an open forum for honest dialogue where we can agree to disagree yet remain friends. Instead, there are personal attacks and sometimes – too often – a gunshot!

My grandfather and father, and Uncle Clayton Bell gave me a great lesson – to disagree “tooth and claw” with someone over an issue but then go out to lunch together. I observed it up close and personal. I heard people criticize my father or grandfather, most of it, in my mind, very unfair. But they never spoke ill of anyone. One time when I was defending my father he rebuked me for being unkind in my remarks about the one who was criticizing him! I don’t think I ever heard him be critical of anyone.

Invariably, he tried to see it from the other person’s viewpoint and he would steer me that way as well. He tried to understand what they were saying and why they said it and then learn from them. He was terrific about that. It was always a learning opportunity for him. He didn’t automatically get defensive. Like I do, sadly. I am sure there were deep wounds but he didn’t nurse or rehearse them. What an example! I know many around the world admire him – but none more than me!