If a Black Man Can Change the Heart of a KKK Member...

I was sitting at home, late one night, watching one of my guilty pleasures: The Steve Harvey Show. There was a black gentleman who talked to members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and, in the process, was able to convince about 200 of them to change their racist ways. As I listened to the story of one white, southern gentleman who was able to repair his relationship with his daughter, I looked hard inside myself for what is destroying us. It isn't ISIS, racism, Donald Trump, or drugs. What's missing is love.

For a long time, the pot has been boiling and now it's spilling over with hate and intolerance. Everyone, from the president down to your next neighbor, is blowing up social media with mean quotes, memes and fake news as a way to express anger to their fellow man. Whether it's the nation's enemies, your political party's enemies or the guy in front of you at the light who won't turn, it seems we are looking for someone to hate.

The art of civility and respect has been lost to a culture that doesn't know how to speak to each other. Instead of having a dialogue with someone you disagree with, we get on Facebook or Twitter and post angry memes or blindly call our "friends" idiots. It is so easy today to turn someone off that you don't agree with. Instead of agreeing to disagree, we block them from our phones and social media to just simply walk away. Whether we want to believe it or not, the next generation is watching and following our lead. When you take away the human element from interaction, you have a society of humans who aren't being...human.

So, what do we do now? How about showing a little care and concern for your fellow man? Most rational thinking human beings want the same thing. A world where our children and grandchildren can thrive and become outstanding individuals. They can't do that if we are stacking the deck against them. We need to teach them how to resolve conflicts without showing hate and disrespect. Also, we need to get off the bully pulpit and stop governing from a position of hatred and fear. Our borders can be protected without the need for condemning other races and religions.

One of God's most important lessons was for us to love each other like we love ourselves. Either we have become very selfish and only love ourselves or we don't know how to love ourselves. There will be death and mayhem because there always has been. This is still one of the most peaceful countries in the world. To believe otherwise and close our borders is foolish and an overreaction. I see memes all the time about how we should focus on our homeless before we take care of refugees. That may be true, but what are you doing about the homeless problem? The streets have always been lined with the homeless, but now it's a problem? If you really want our government to take care of our people, we need to show them how to do it and it starts in your own backyard.

We can be loving and strong at the same time. Some might even say it takes a lot more strength to be loving than it does to be filled with hatred. When you disagree with someone's political or personal beliefs and you don't feel like you can have a dignified conversation with that person, just walk away and DON'T CLICK SEND! If you disagree with how our government is being handled, contact your senator or congressman and remind them when they are up for reelection and let them know you're keeping score. Finally, let's just show some love and respect to each other for a change. If a black man can love and forgive a former Klansman when he asks for it, surely you can show a little love to a friend who voted for the other guy.