“Dave, you always think your opinion is the only right one to have.  You really shouldn’t be that way.”

My girlfriend Donna was right.  I do have a tendency to state my opinions in a forceful manner, such that I remove the possibility (in my own mind) that any rational person can disagree.  Donna knows me better than anyone, and has been subject to many of my opinions.  Sometimes we agree; often on political issues, she just isn’t interested.  This time she tired of my arrogance and said something about it.

I’m glad she did. It came just before my sister-in-law Zoe encouraged me tonight at Thanksgiving dinner about my Facebook posts the last couple of weeks. I was surprised at the compliment on my opinions and the way I expressed them.  Zoe suggested that I should start a blog, and so here I go letting her encouragement take root.

But I hopefully will be a kinder, gentler blogger than I have been in the past.  I have called those I disagree with “idiots” and “morons” and that kind of language doesn’t change people’s thinking.  What I am going to do instead, is try to veer from extremism, to embrace differences of opinion.  I’ll try stating my case as forcefully as I can but without giving offence.  What good is stating an opinion that just alienates people?

So hopefully this blog will steer me and others down the middle of the road, and avoid the rhetoric of extremists who seek to hate.  It’s not the Democrats who are the problem; it’s not the Republicans who are the problem.  It’s the Democrats who hate Republicans, and the Republicans who hate Democrats, that make it miserable for the rest of us.  And it’s not just the hate contained in these political parties that disturbs the peace; religion also has its share of haters, and that’s why the team of “religion and politics” is supposed to be avoided during conversation in many social situations.  I won’t always blog about religion and politics, but they will get covered thoroughly.

God be with us all as we seek answers, comfort and peace of mind in these truly difficult times.

Thanks for reading,

Dave