All biases aside

 In recent days, I have heard about more friends and celebrities whom God has called home.  I mentioned Charlie Kirk in the last blog, I believe.  Former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar and radio personality Bruce Dumont also within the last week.

Now I mention those names and some of you who are reading probably cringe, or maybe you are simply shocked to hear about them.  You may not even know who Bruce Dumont was, and that is ok.  You can look him up on Google if you wish.  My point is that each of these men had their ways of bristling the hair on the napes of peoples' necks for their political views.  And yet, while some people will weep while others will not for their deaths, every person should take notice that every one of them and many others like them ARE/WERE made in the image and likeness of God.

I've heard many people simply say that they will pray for Mr. Kirk's family, but not for Mr. Kirk.  "I'm not going to make him a martyr."  That is the attitude of many people.  And having had my own feathers rustled by some of the things he said, I can't say I agreed with the man.  But praying for a man's soul is different than agreeing with his views.  It's a lesson in realizing that image and likeness of God.  Do we pray FOR God?  Of course not.  But we certainly want His mercy to be upon us when at last we die -- preferably by natural causes.

Why am I on this subject?  Because hate and hateful speech harms EVERYONE.  I would say that if you are angry with any of the above men or anyone else, keep it to yourself.  And if you need to let it out just to release the anger, find a healthy medium to do so.  In my days at St. Lawrence O'Toole, someone gave me a small aluminum pail with soft "snowballs" in it.  They were great.  I could just pick a safe target and focus and throw them at a wall.  Maybe I should have taken out the little toy army-men and set them up to be knocked down.  Either way, it's a lot healthier than spewing hate.

Think about it please.