Our Biggest Mistake Ever

“Giving a microphone to every human being is the worst mistake we have made in human history.”

ME: Are you saying social media was a mistake?

“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudice and motivated by pride and vanity.” ­– Dale Carnegie

ME: But doesn’t everyone deserve to be heard?

“Every man has a right to his own opinion. But no man has a right to be wrong in his facts.” – Bernard Baruch

ME: We seem to be at war with ourselves.

“War is awful. Nothing, not the valor with which it is fought nor the nobility of the cause it serves, can glorify war. War is wretched beyond description and only a fool or a fraud could sentimentalize its cruel reality. Whatever is won in war, it is loss the veteran remembers.” – John McCain

ME: But we’re waging a war of words, not blood!

“But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and those things defile a man.” – Jesus, in Matthew 15

ME: Can’t we just listen to the good people and ignore the bad?

“Men who believe themselves to be good, who do not search their own souls, often commit the worst atrocities. A man who sees himself as evil will restrain himself. It is only when we do evil in the belief that we do good that we pursue it wholeheartedly.” – David Farland

ME: I agree with that, especially the part about searching our own souls. When I see a person of real character, I always want to ask, “What darkness did you conquer?” Mountains do not rise without earthquakes.

“Hard times create strong men.

Strong men create good times.

Good times create weak men.

And weak men create hard times.”

― G. Michael Hopf

ME: Are you saying we brought this social storm upon ourselves through our own weakness and self-indulgence?

“You can never make the same mistake twice because the second time you make it, it’s not a mistake, it’s a choice.” ­– Steven Denn

ME: Will we ever quit making the old mistakes?

“No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.” – Solomon, Ecclesiastes ch. 1

ME: Based on what you said earlier, if these are the hard times created by weak people, is the next phase when we become strong people that create good times?

“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else” – Winston Churchill

ME: What should I do while I wait for all this social rage and weirdness to become less angry and weird?

“Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do… Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love…” – Solomon, Ecclesiastes ch. 9

ME: Sounds good to me.

Roy H. Williams