Stop.

It's Not Okay to Do That On Social Media

My two grandkids spent the night at my house years ago when they were very young, both under 7 years old.

At some point in the evening President Trump appeared on the television and both of the kids began ridiculing him and saying what a terrible person he was. They hadn't been watching what was on, they simply heard him speaking and it caused them to react.

I was horrified. These two innocent minds had obviously heard things from adults that caused them to repeat the hate for a man they had no way of knowing, let alone what his politics were. It was shocking to witness and I'll never forget that night.

I thought about what to say to them or what I shouldn’t say. And it became very clear to me that to try and convince a child of why a political viewpoint is right or wrong and how its important to talk about differences we might have with others would be difficult, and that they couldn't and wouldn't understand because their minds did not have the reference points or life experiences that adults have and use to think rationally about adult issues.

I simply asked them "Did y'all know President Trump is a grandpa?"

You could see their countenance change immediately, as though maybe they hadn't considered that he was more than a character on tv, or a villain in a comic book, or a monster of a human that some adult in their life obviously demonized in their presence.

Right there, face to face with their own grandpa, all three of us possibly learned something.

I like to think they began to look at President Trump as a human, just like their own grandpa. And I realized how irresponsible it is for an adult to implant hatred for others into the minds of children, even if they didn't say it to them directly and it was just within earshot for them to hear.

The social media culture is much like whoever planted those irresponsible and hateful thoughts into the minds of those children, who are influenced by the people in their lives who they look to for the information about the world they haven't yet experienced or just simply don't fully understand.

There are those on social media, including the one we are on right now, who are ignorant of truth and facts yet still feel it's ok to spread hatred about other people by posting comments that they have either heard others say without taking the time to understand if they are truthful or not, or by spewing vile hatred for another person because they are either jealous or are blindly following the current memes.

Its repulsive behavior, and if you are one of those who feel the need to demean someone for believing God exists and that there might be actual moral truths, or that their political ideas are not as superior as your own even when you haven't taken the time to consider yours might be the wrong ones, or even if you just don't have much else to do at night except drink wine and repost radical statements other radical people post, there's something you should consider.

Just like with children, there are people on social media listening when you spew hatred. People who are needing someone to follow because they don't understand. The problem with political hatred is that the more you spread it, the more likely it is to plant itself and grow in innocent minds that can't even understand why they hate, they just hear it so much it becomes what they think too.

Please. Stop. It's not hard to relate the events we are seeing with the actions of those who spread the seeds of hatred that grow into evil actions inside the weaker minds of those that might hear you.

Donald Trump is somebody's Grandpa.

Charlie Kirk is somebody's Dad.

Consider how you want us all to think about those close to you before you show your true colors publicly and so flippantly talk about men or women like these that you might not agree with. And understand that your words and actions, and yes your posts, might well be the trigger that causes an unstable mind to do what even you know is unthinkable.

Its okay to disagree and discuss.

It's not okay to fuel an already hot fire of evil.