The Unturnable Page

School Shootings

With my wife working in school administration and my daughter about to graduate with a degree in music education, we have lots of conversations in our house about public school trends and the funds that affect their policies. It worries me to hear whispers of cutting band and choir. Music transcends. It speaks to the soul. Surely our world doesn't need less of anything soul-level, and I can't imagine what the next generation of kids will look like if we take their song.

I lost a friend this week. Sadly, over the last few months, he just drifted away. No, it wasn't cancer or some other disease that took him, more of a stomach bile, an acidity that just ate away at his gut. And I don't think he even noticed how much it consumed his life, but I could see the pain of it spewing all over his social media. I knew it wouldn't be long before he was gone, so I reached out on his birthday. Then, suddenly, after some political banter, it finally got the best of him. Hate always does. And in some ways, at times, I've been dangerously close to joining this pandemic of political unfriending. But where will we be in four years if we just block or unfriend every person who doesn't share our views? Maybe, just maybe, that's how we got here. We've forgotten how to make room for each other.