Freedom of Speech

Living gratefully today, I say thank you to my heart and lungs for working effectively to get oxygen to the rest of me. 

I also give thanks for the United States constitution, a remarkable and flexible document that has worked well and weathered much since being written and signed in 1787 and going into effect the next year. 

It has been over 20 years since, as a classroom teacher, I taught about this and the history of our nation. What will be taught 200 years from now about what we are currently living through? 

The Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments, were added in 1791 and are invaluable. Our system of checks and balances between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches have helped us utilize and interpret the words within the Constitution all these years. It is not a perfect document and we are not a perfect nation, but let's not forget our resilient history.

And this all leads me to my own interpretation of things this morning. We have had dark times in our nation, and we are living through one now. We have each had dark times in our own lives, but never such a universal difficult set of circumstances as we are facing now.

Freedom of speech is allowing for necessary discourse. Social media has allowed a platform for that discourse to become more blunt, pointed, hateful, distorted, finger-pointing. And often from an anonymous distance. People are getting tangled emotions and confusion and questions and frustrations out. Sometimes hurting others and zapping good energy in the process.

I'm all for releasing toxic emotions, but creating more toxicity in the process doesn't seem helpful. 

So I choose to exercise my freedom by staying away from the intense negativity and drain, and by not contributing to it. I choose to exercise my freedom of speech with thoughtful and respectful words when needed, and with silence when it speaks more loudly. I fall short, but it is a worthy goal. 

How am I speaking to others today? To myself?  I am reminded of the wisdom in "be kind and gentle with self and others."