Lovin’ the Haters

What a week it has been.

I have an app on my phone that provides me with a daily Bible Verse to read every morning.  Here’s what it said Friday:

1st John 4:20-21 (NIV): 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

We have had plenty of rivalries over the years. My wife went to Indiana University and our daughters graduated from Purdue.

My son manages an organic farm and my son-in-law works for a big agriculture company.

A former co-worker of mine is celebrating 30 years of being on the air at WMUZ in Detroit this month.  She’s from Rhode Island and proud of it.  But her team, or should I say teams are battling it out for the American League Championship.  While she’s a Red Sox fan, she lives in Tiger Town.  I haven’t checked her Facebook page to see how she’s handling this conflict.

Indiana never had a major league football or baseball team before the Colts arrived from Baltimore and it was several seasons before Payton Manning showed up and made the Colts winners.  We still have plenty of Chicago Bear, Detroit Lion and a handful of other NFL Fans who are still more loyal to those teams than Indianapolis.

This weekend, we’re going to see another conflict as the Colts host the undefeated Denver Broncos featuring former Indy quarterback superstar, Payton Manning.  Payton was adored by Colts fans and I wonder how many will be wearing his old blue #18 jersey at Sunday nights game?

And then there’s the political battles.  While history books tell us that there were plenty of battles and haters in previous generations, what we have now appears to be a new high in hating and taking the low ground.

Blame it on the 24/7 news media who have their cable channels that they need to fill with programming to attract viewers so they can attract advertisers who in turn pay for those channels to stay on the air; but  it is also spreading among the people in conversations too.

No matter what your political views are, be thankful we live in a country where we are able to express them.

However, please be civil.  Discourage personal attacks and name calling. Stick to the issues and realize that all, yes ALL of our media is slanted and biased.

Research what both sides have to say and don’t be an echo chamber.

Also stop applying all the Democratic rhetoric on people with a liberal position, all the Republican rhetoric on people with a conservative position and all the Tea Party rhetoric on people with a  Libertarian position.  It’s dangerous and usually wrong to make those kind of blanket assumptions about individuals.

I titled this piece Lovin’ the Haters because I have pledged to not participate in divisive talk.  Yes, I have strong opinions and depending on the topic I could be labeled liberal, conservative or libertarian.

Most of the people you know have this split personality too depending on the individual issues.

Take a moment and watch how this is done in this political ad:

And this weekend, “Go Colts!”, or “Go Payton & the Broncos!”  I really don’t care, I’ll be asleep before the end of the game.