{"id":10070,"date":"2019-10-16T07:39:25","date_gmt":"2019-10-16T11:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=10070"},"modified":"2019-10-16T07:39:32","modified_gmt":"2019-10-16T11:39:32","slug":"cant-talk-about-kindness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=10070","title":{"rendered":"can’t talk about kindness?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A little over a week ago, the Twitter-verse decided to hear themselves talk after gifted comedienne, Ellen DeGeneres, was photographed hanging out at an NFL game with former Pres. George W. Bush. Noting the attention that included both generous commendation and condemnation, DeGeneres responded further the next day by saying, \u201cWhen I say be kind to one another, I don\u2019t mean only the people that think the same way you do. I mean be kind to everyone.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multiple celebrities responded [all emphasis mine]\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Blake Shelton: \u201cAmen\u2026 thank you for saying this.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Jamie Foxx: \u201cThank uuu very much for that!!!! <\/em>Soooo needed and necessary.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reese Witherspoon, Gwen Stefani, Kristen Bell and many more supportively weighed in. Others, however, responded strikingly, differently\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Mark Ruffalo: \u201cSorry, until George W. Bush is brought to justice for the crimes of the Iraq War, (including American-lead torture, Iraqi deaths & displacement, and the deep scars \u2014 emotional & otherwise \u2014 inflicted on our military that served his folly), <\/em>we can\u2019t even begin to talk about kindness.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Susan Sarandon: \u201cBut missing the point entirely, DeGeneres framed the issue as simply a matter of her hanging out with someone with different opinions, not a man repeatedly accused of being a war criminal.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Far more than Ruffalo and Sarandon \u2014 many others who do not even know<\/em><\/strong> DeGeneres \u2014 took time to judge her from afar (\u2026 amazing how generous we can be with our judgment\u2026 especially when we don\u2019t really know someone).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ABC\u2019s \u201cThe View\u201d responded with the following question: \u201cShould you be friends with someone you disagree with politically?\u201d<\/em> And they disagreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-host Joy Behar actually inserted, \u201cI\u2019ve always said I didn\u2019t want to get to know George W. Bush, because<\/em> I knew I would like him.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friends, do we see what\u2019s happening?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Very intelligent people are struggling with basic moral questions\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it ok to be kind?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And many are justifying \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When wrestling with the puzzling reason behind the refusal, in my semi-humble sense, it\u2019s because we\u2019ve got the order wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we actually got to know people first<\/em> \u2014 and if we started to actually like<\/em> them \u2014 to see that they aren\u2019t<\/em> evil, they aren\u2019t<\/em> stupid, and there is no way they are totally nuts, then we might actually have to wrestle with our own thinking \u2014 and why we are different. But we instead insulate ourselves with likeminded opinion so that we never have to allow our thinking to be seriously challenged. Many of the intelligent among us are unwilling to allow their thinking to be challenged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in that process, we\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 refuse kindness\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 question forgiveness\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 and forgo relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what if we changed up the order? What if we got to know people first? What if we really got to know them (and put the disrespectful tweets and status updates away)?<\/em> What if we could actually see the wisdom in Ellen\u2019s words?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Music icon Elton John weighed in on Monday\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGeorge Bush has made a lot of mistakes. <\/em>I<\/em><\/strong> made a lot of mistakes. Ellen DeGeneres has made a lot of mistakes\u2026 Yes, there were things that he\u2019s \u2014 decisions were made. But they\u2019ve been made by Democratic presidents and Republican presidents [too]\u2026 I admire Ellen for standing up and saying what she did.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notice the humility in the singer\u2019s statement. It amazes me how in humility, it is far easier to extend kindness. When we instead refuse humility \u2014 when we refuse to respect, to interact with, or to even attempt to like<\/em> those who are different \u2014 we are more prone to insulating judgment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something, friends, seems wrong with that. If \u201cwe can\u2019t even begin to talk about kindness,\u201d something seems unwise and less fruitful in us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Respectfully\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A little over a week ago, the Twitter-verse decided to hear themselves talk after gifted comedienne, Ellen DeGeneres, was photographed hanging out at an NFL game with former Pres. George W. Bush. Noting the attention that included both generous commendation and condemnation, DeGeneres responded further the next day by saying, \u201cWhen I say be kind … <\/p>\n

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