ForgottenWoman

Thoughts on Logic For All of Us

Very few of us can steer clear of all of the news, the social media opinions, the video reels, and the emotional fighting surrounding the current political landscape of our country. I have no doubt that every reader has their opinions, and yes, I have some of my own.

There is something in all of this that has captivated my thoughts, and that is extremely concerning. I’m afraid that the way in which too many have been raised and educated has led to what we are experiencing. Now, I’m going to preface my words here with the fact that I am an emotional being. Guess what! So are you! God created us with every emotion that we feel, and every emotion has a purpose – and none of those emotions are inherently wrong. Our minds were also given to us by our Creator, and He instructs us in His Word to renew our minds with truth – and when we do so, and when we exercise our minds, we can healthily experience our emotions.

When we live this way, the experiences of our lives don’t harden us; they don’t send us ‘off the deep end,’ but they deepen our ability to both think and feel. A healthy mind is able to think logically even when feeling deep emotions. THIS is one of the things that we have failed to raise and educate our children to do. And those children are now the adults that we see functioning without the ability to discern.

When our education system is designed to teach to the test and indoctrination, and when parents fail to discuss, debate, and challenge the family at home… guess what we end up with?! Generations that can’t think logically. Generations that believe everything their favorite news anchor tells them. Generations that are easily manipulated by words, videos, rants, reels, and emotional speeches. Generations of Republicans and Democrats alike who are spewing the rhetoric of their chosen side, without any thoughts of their own.

All of that is just the introduction to my main point today. Keep reading, please. My main point comes from all of that.

Again, I am an emotional person, and I recognize that. Growing up, I received very few spankings in a home where obedience and discipline were practiced. Why was I the least spanked of the 4 children? Because a stern look brought tears to my eyes! Because the thought that I had disappointed my parents literally broke my heart. It also broke my heart when a sibling was spanked or punished in some way. I was sure there was a way to just “let it slide!” I share all of that because I want you to understand that as I matured, I had to learn that logically, humans can’t disrupt the lives of other humans without consequences. Even if the consequences hurt. I had to learn that logically, families, organizations, institutions, and nations have to have guidelines, rules, and laws that give order, that protect, and that create atmospheres that allow us to live and thrive. When those guidelines aren’t followed, when those rules aren’t kept, when those laws are broken, there MUST be consequences or the entire place becomes chaotic and quite frankly unlivable. My emotions didn’t teach me that – my ability to think logically did.

Now… what the inability to think and act logically has led to is the absolute chaos that you and I are witnessing today. Yes, you knew I would get to Minneapolis. This is getting long, but bear with me.

There is another point that needs to be made. Logic also tells me that there are good and bad eggs in every part of life that has human beings in it. There are good mommas and there are mommas that love themselves more than they love their children. That doesn’t negate who the good mommas are. There are amazing fathers and there are fathers who got the name either because of biology or because of marriage/adoption who have done more harm than good to their families. Their lives do not negate the value or quality of the good dads. Some incredible humans have given their lives to serve and protect others through law enforcement. Some power/control-hungry humans have chosen that line of work because they love feeling powerful over others. They don’t erase the amazing men and women who truly put their lives on the line every single day for us. Are you getting the picture yet? Again – LOGIC allows me to know this! So, though I was pulled over by a female police officer one day who was extremely rude to me and obviously felt some sort of power in ticketing me, I didn’t decide that all law enforcement officers are arrogant, power-hungry people just waiting to arrest someone. That would have been illogical!

All of that to say that the ICE officers who are working to remove criminals from our cities, who are seeking to uphold the laws of immigration in our country: their job is dangerous. Their job is taxing. Their job is more than you or I can even begin to imagine. And they are human. Some of them are probably power-hungry jerks, and many of them are probably incredible people. They will make mistakes. They will reach emotional limits on their own. You and I would do well to think logically about all of this. You and I would do well to, instead of creating chaos, instead of inciting emotional outrage on both sides, instead of placing ourselves in the position of judge and jury, instead of villifying one another for our political views and opinions, we would do well to abide by the laws of our country and encourage others to do so as well.

For example, our country DOES allow for peaceful protesting. And I am so thankful that it does. Every once in a while, I get to stand on the sidewalk and hold a sign that encourages those passing by to consider the life of an unborn baby as valuable. THAT is peaceful protesting. Every sign I have ever held simply tells the truth about conception, about life in the womb, about resources to help those who find themselves expecting. Quite often, someone who doesn’t agree with me will yell ugly names at me, tell me that I need to get an education, and even accuse me of hating others as much as they obviously hate me for having an opinion that differs from theirs. My response? Usually, I just smile and acknowledge that I heard them. Sometimes, I can get them to talk to me. What don’t I do? I don’t call them names, I don’t hold signs that accuse them of hateful things, I don’t verbally attack their character. That would no longer be peaceful.

These “peaceful” protests that we are seeing more and more across our country aren’t like that! The signs being held are filled with false accusations. They are covered with name-calling and even death wishes. They accuse law-abiding citizens of hatred and other vile things, and they incite emotional outrage. Throwing things at law enforcement, attacking their vehicles and their character, blocking their ability to do their job. That is no longer peaceful.

How do I draw those conclusions? Logical thinking! It doesn’t matter if I feel sorry for a family who has lived here without citizenship and benefited from our system or not! My feelings/emotions are real, but my logic knows that there are laws and systems in place for a reason – and working to get order within the system is not for the faint of heart.

Let’s consider another logical thing here. How those protesting ICE and this administration are going about their protests – is illogical. It is causing chaos. It is causing emotional outrage. It is not only creating havoc for law enforcement, it is also creating danger for all involved. I’m again using logic here. You know those whistles we keep hearing in the videos? Let me ask you a serious question. How many of you who are parents have even had a child with a whistle inside the house? How many of you have ever used the phrase, “Use your inside voice, please!” How many of you have ever asked a group of children to take their running and playing outside? Why? Because you reach a point where the chaos of the noise, the pitch of the whistles, the amount of activity around you has led to sensory overload. Did any of you ever raise your voice when you told them to take it outside? Have any of you perfect parents ever yelled at your children when your overload reached a certain level? (Of course, you apologized later.)

My point? Can you imagine being an ICE officer in today’s world? The pressure and enormous amount of stress that you are feeling to just do your job day in and day out is enormous. You’ve been denied access to restaurants and hotels because of the uniform you wear – not because of who you are on a personal level. You’ve been screamed at, had things thrown at you, been called horrible names, and may have even received death threats against you and your family. And then your job takes you to a city where daily ‘peaceful’ protests are taking place. You are already dealing with all of the above, and then, the protestors are blowing their screeching whistles constantly, chasing you with them… can you just imagine the sensory overload? Either you are superhuman, or your job just became exponentially more difficult!

My point? If those protesting are truly concerned about the lives of others, the lives of one another, the lives of the immigrants the officers are trying to detain, it seems they would NOT be adding to the chaos. It seems logical thinking would lead them to understand that the chaos they are creating is anything but peaceful and will not lead to solving any problems they believe they are protesting!

If you’ve read this far, thank you! I am simply asking that those few hundred who read my bloggings would consider logic in all of this. Consider teaching your children and grandchildren logical thinking! Consider encouraging one another to think logically and use both the mind and emotions that God created us with! Understand that there are ways to make a difference when we feel that things are not being done correctly, but bringing chaos to those situations is not the answer! Understand that we are not always going to agree with one another on politics or cultural issues, but we do ourselves no favors when we stoop to emotional, personal attacks or jump to conclusions on things that we really know very little about! We can do better. I can love you and listen to you and learn from you – if I choose to and if I can figure out how to think logically!

Thanks for listening!