Sanity is knowing when to let things go.
Please discuss. How does this play out in life?
I’ll start us out. So much of our public discourse is polarized now. We air our strong opinions on social media and often may receive dissenting or derogatory feedback. Even if we’re not initiating posts or tweets, it can be challenging to avoid commenting on what we feel are particularly inflammatory statements. We think that if we call out another’s seeming misstatements, the power of our conviction and facts will somehow alter their beliefs.
It’s sometimes not easy to just scroll—in itself a simple hand gesture—scroll past what we feel is insanity and move on to another topic. Yet if we refute what we feel is another’s wrong headedness, we step into the insanity with them. We open ourselves to near certain conflict and to being perceived as equally mistaken and perverse. It’s a shootout of opinions that no one will win.
Today’s message reminds me that restraint can bolster my peace of mind. Stepping into the fray on social media will likely only yield the loss of my composure. If I’m certain of the moral correctness of my beliefs, I can best demonstrate this by my example. Usually it’s best for me to step away from the conflict. It isn’t weakness in failing to counter someone’s seemingly erroneous viewpoints. It’s strength in controlling my impulse to peremptorily lash out to defend my opinions.
How about you? How successful are you at just scrolling on by?