For or Against
There’s a big difference between standing for something and standing against something. Being against something can be difficult, but it’s almost always easier than being for something. Being against something is like being able to recognize when an instrument is out of tune or a picture isn’t level—it’s not a bad thing it just doesn’t solve anything. Sometimes people choose the supposed opposite of something they are against feeling like that is taking action. It’s like going to a cafeteria and finding they are offering vanilla pudding or chocolate pudding for dessert. You don’t really like either, but you dislike vanilla pudding less than you dislike chocolate pudding so you take the vanilla. What you’ve done is you’ve given vanilla your vote even though you really aren’t pleased with either. And when you do that you communicate to the cafeteria that they should buy more vanilla pudding.
That’s voting against chocolate. But if you actually prefer banana pudding (like I do) then taking either is simply a vote against the other and stands for nothing. So I take neither and leave a comment in the comment box that I’d prefer banana pudding. Yes, the cafeteria may not change, but at least I haven’t helped them create false data to reinforce bad buying habits and I’m making it clear what I am for—namely banana pudding as an option as well. And, until enough people are willing to forego dessert, the cafeteria will continue to ignore me. But if everyone who doesn’t actually care for vanilla and chocolate pudding would band together and refuse dessert and ask for something else, we might actually get a few more options.
It feels weird to put the love poem I wrote to my wife after that so I’ll keep the poem to myself today.
Almighty God, grant that with our lives we may be for the things you are for—Truth, Justice, Peace, Love, and Hope—rather than simply against things. Amen.