Cast your educated vote. It’s not a bad thing to do so. I’m having trouble lately because we have become a country who is leaning toward a sociological pit of destruction of an “us verses them” mentality. We should be all in this together. So I thought I’d write a little post about Election Day and some of my thoughts on the subject of our culture.
Group think:
Group think is a term that was introduced to me when I attended CMU, in my sociology classes. The definition is “the practice of thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility.” Group think was actually something that President Harry Truman attributed to the use of the atomic bomb. When new information and creativity are stifled, learning and growth follow suit. We’re starting to get to this thinking at a cultural level with the invention of a phrase that I truly dislike.
Stay in your lane:
This is the phrase: “stay in your lane”. I do not subscribe to this mentality, I actually passionately dislike this phrase. I wonder what John Adams and the boys would have said if the British response to their Declaration of Independence was returned with a note that said “stay in your lane”. Jesus Christ certainly didn’t have a lane, or if he did he certainly didn’t stay in it. The disciples and early Christians were put into a lane, but they didn’t stay in their lane either. This phrase continues to grow as a popular phrase in American culture right now and it’s a potentially devastatingly dangerous thought paradigm. The whole conversation tips when you even begin to discuss how you got in your lane to begin with.
Recently, I’ve read and researched two different social issues that people have told others to stay in their lane or to butt out. I met those reviews internally asking the question, “why?”
Why wouldn’t I think and process about what is going on around me and why wouldn’t I encourage thought where I felt there were blind spots? Why can’t I have a thought on theology, racial tension, political issues and more? How does it help you if I stay in my lane and how does it help me if you stay in yours? Are we not called to carry each other’s burdens? It’s ignorant and suppressive to tell people to stay in their lane.
Who you should vote for:
I’m not going to tell you who you should vote for. I’m not even going to campaign that you should vote. I don’t know if you’ve studied, researched, prayed and discerned the decision at hand. All I’m going to tell you is that if you go vote, make an educated vote. I dare not tell you to stay in your lane and I’ll take it one step further. If you vote for someone I didn’t vote for I’m not going to hold It against you personally. That, to me, seems anti-American. Voting isn’t just a right, it’s a duty. One that should be held with reverence and respect. The men who died for that right and duty deserve that much.
Summary:
Do your research. Grow in your education. Make an educated vote. Don’t get caught in group think. Please don’t stay in your lane. Please stop saying that. Please tell me my blind spots in love and grace. Please see the other side. Please turn the other cheek. Please treat others with respect.
leadershape 