I hate to be the bearer of bad news but umm… Can you believe that Red hat wearing Trumpian is right? Well if he or she is right, can you also believe the blind Demo-rat (as I’ve seen written on several occasions from those so-called Christians) is right too? Don’t believe me? Well my friend, they most certainly are. They are both right, so let me give you some understanding. But first, if anything so far has offended you, nothing I’ve repeated makes me the original source. So calm down, I’m just repeating what y’all love to say.

At the gym during my strength and conditioning class, the instructor gave us a list of 8 exercises. We were told to do a total of 30 reps each on both sides (30 ea on right arm and 30 ea on left arm for example) any way that we wanted. And 30 minutes to complete the full set. Warm up and then GO.

I decided that I’d break my reps up into 10s meaning 10 on the right and then 10 on the left then move to the next exercise. Continue until I’ve finished the full set. Out of a class size of about 10 of us, it appeared as 3 of us decided to complete the set the same way. While the rest of the class proceeded to do ALL 30 reps for each exercise. So once they completed all reps for exercise 1, then and only then did they move to exercise 2. Can you imagine what I’m saying?

While I was doing my thing, I looked at my fellow gym mates and wondered why they chose to wear themselves out in that manner. I thought my way of doing it was easier. Even though we both would reach the end result, I still felt my way was better. Of course, I didn’t tell them this but I was surely thinking it.

Well after I’d made it pass the 3rd exercise along with the other 3 who mimicked my path, how about our instructor stopped us to figure out what we were doing. Apparently, we were wrong!!! We were supposed to do all 30 reps on both sides completely for just one exercise before advancing to the next move. So once exercise 1 was done, you were done with that exercise for the day. Then you moved to the second exercise to complete your 30 reps on each side. Make sense? I’m sure this is clear as mud. And I’m also sure several of you interpreted the directions as I did.

Was I wrong? No, not really if you ask me because we both would get the same result according to doing it “any way we wanted to.” Right? Of course. It’s was just my or our interpretation of what we heard.

Have you ever viewed a body of water like the ocean from up close? What color was the water? Black or dark blue? Have you ever viewed this same body of water from your hotel room, several floors up? What color was the water? Light blue or even green? Well how can this same body of water be black, blue, and green? Who was right with their color assessment? Well, all answers are correct….from their perspective OR from the level they are on. Ok, stay with me now. Let me pull this together.

From their lenses, their perspective, their level (which can be defined by their social economical standpoint), etc leads to their thought processes and interpretations. From all of these realms, they are correct. Can I be very blunt for a minute? Let me put this in language some may better understand.

First of all, no Mayberry born and feed MF can tell someone from the inner city projects that they shouldn’t run from the police when their relationships and dealings with police have been nothing but negative, condescending, and cruel. Surely you’ve heard of stories of false arrests, drugs being planted, mistaken identities, etc. Or have you only seen those events on television? Well for someone my friend, that is real life. If they are taught that police are crooked, then guess what? Police are crooked. When that see them, RUN! And it doesn’t matter if what they were taught is right or wrong…at the end of the day, that’s their truth. Oh I forgot, your surroundings are perfect and you’ve never been faced with such tragedies.

Maybe you’ll get this illustration. This is no different from growing up under the notion that all preachers are hypocrites. If every church you’ve visited (all 4 of them out of thousands) had a pastor sleeping around or stealing money, then what have you deduced from YOUR experiences? Simple…all pastors are hypocrites. How easy will it be for you to change your mind about pastors? More than likely, you will never change your mind about pastors. Every time you are in the presence of one or someone invites you to their church; your head will scream “hypocrites.” And I’m willing to bet, any church you visit, that pastor has to prove himself to you over and over again that they are near perfect and deserving your patronage. And god forbid he/he ever makes a mistake. #hypocrites

My point is this, depending on how and where you grew up, your exposures or lack there of, your experiences both good and bad, your background, your values, your income, your current environment, etc. ALL of these things affect your lenses. Even the people you hang around. Because chances are great, you hang around people who view and perceive things as you do. So all of y’all are right about the same things.

But before you go discrediting the person with opposing viewpoints, why not take the mature approach of having a conversation where you talk and listen to one another to find out just why they are right and just why you are right? I’m willing to bet you that you find out that you both actually are saying the SAME things just saying them differently. It all stems around interpretations. Just like the Bible is often misinterpreted or interpreted differently, so are these political viewpoints. Imagine that…

Believe it or not, if we can take a moment and stop screaming at each other, we want the same things. We value a lot of the same things. And even though a lot of our perspectives were built on lack of knowledge, ignorance, and hearsay; it doesn’t erase these false truths from our mentalities. But know this, we ALL suffer from some levels of misinformation! All of us! However, agendas, situations, and people along the way have prevented us from having such discussions. Instead we are divided by things we should be uniting around. We no longer want to listen to one another. And Facebook rants ain’t the same as true discussions! They get us no where. We all just want to be heard. Instead of being heard, seek a way to be understood and to get an understanding.

Thanks for your attention. Remember you are your own competition.

Competition of 1