Bear with me for just a bit, this may be a little longer in text than I have written in quite awhile. Hope you stay with it! 🙂

I had this big ARLIN REPORT head page from the beginning of my blogging experience. I feel like I needed to change the colors and the heading a bit, things have gone kind of dull, or stale. That’s how I felt. I haven’t exactly attracted a lot of new readers. Some, because you saw the same old page day after day for about 3-4 years now. Also, my posts, my messages have given me the same feeling. SOMETIMES change is good. I like the beach scene above, maybe it will have a calming effect, for me and for those interested enough in reading.

I think things have gotten worn out in my writing. I never set out to change the world, but maybe just have a little influence on some. Hopefully a positive influence. By that, just to give a perspective, maybe a different perspective, something to give YOU something to think about. I think an old guy (67) from Missouri, who has been around a bit should be able to do that, to an extent. I’d like to continue on though by being more positive, less critical, more understanding or at least from my part try to be more understanding, even from those I totally do not get, do not understand. After all, I have not experienced all they or you have experienced.

HERE IS MY MOST (I think) IMPORTANT THOUGHT TODAY, (and I’d like to keep this going forward as kind of a theme): If we lived in a world that reaches out to every (any) country, a state, a county/region and a community and we all AGREED on everything all the time; how many cliffs would we fall off? How many train wrecks would we have? How many paths would we take and stay on so long that it only led us to danger or darkness because there was no one to lead us out of those traps; no one gave us an option or alternative routes? We are going to make bad decisions, take the wrong road (even when we have the same destination). We will get off path, sometimes change our direction our course……… We’ll find out what works and what doesn’t. We are capable of adaption. We need to work together, even when we have different perspectives. Putting it all together should be our strength, not our weakness.

We as a nation should face the toughest problems, the toughest issues from different (all) angles TOGETHER. That means listening, speaking up. That also means with patience. Perspective, many perspectives should be sought, not rejected. We will not agree on everything. We won’t. The greatest teacher that once walked this planet told us that. We didn’t listen very well. Look where we are! He saw this coming. We see hate because why? Because we think differently, because your perspective is different than mine? I know that greed, greed for power, corruption and many other multiple things get in the way. So how can we be patient, listen, and share our different ideas, try and understand one another when we have such road blocks from those that only want it their way. We already have the answer……… we need patience, and working together and to be quite honest, that will take great perspective and patience. We will also need adaption, we will need many ideas, alternatives. The most important of which is UNITY.

Being united DOES NOT MEAN WE WILL AGREE ON EVERYTHING, WE WON’T. We’ll have to have more understanding. One of which is we “must” understand that we “won’t understand” everything.

How can he or she think that way? I can not understand how can they possibly think that way! I just confessed to something about myself right there, ‘it is me that does not understand’. I don’t understand because I haven’t listened, maybe been patient enough, or I just never experienced what they have experienced. I haven’t walked in their shoes. I may never understand, but I should understand I won’t always understand. Or if I do understand or begin to, I STILL MAY NOT AGREE. That is okay. I need to (here you go) understand that!

We are the greatest nation in the world. Part of, a great part of, the reason for that is we are the most diverse nation in the world (or one of anyway). But we have become divided, divided because of our diversity, and our diverse different perspectives. We have let corruption and greed lead us. They have divided us. They have taken our strengths as a diversified united nation and split us apart. Diversity is a weapon now. It should be…….but one that keeps us united not divided.

Together, we must weed out those that want to divide us, those that use hate to further divide us. Is it too late? I don’t know. It’s late and it’s getting later. I don’t have all the answers, that’s why I need you, we need each other, to pull us back together. We’ll disagree, you know that right, you know that by now, I hope. We can disagree on things, but stay united. I really believe that. We may go down some wrong roads (you or I didn’t agree on but agreed to go together)…….we have before, but along the way we can keep it together, we can make some adaptions along the way. We can change the course if needed………. but most importantly we can do it together, STAY UNITED. We may have a train wreck here and there……..but we can crash together……get up, get back on track and go a different way. We’ll survive.

Hate and division are tearing us apart. Jesus took 12 men, with different occupations, different ideas, different religious beliefs (if no belief), as diverse as could be. His last commandment to them, “Love one another as I have loved you”. With all those different personalities and diversity “Love one another as I have loved you”. Sent them out into the world to teach just that, (along with He died for our sins, and whoever believes in me shall live in paradise with me…..but that came later, after the resurrection). He knew and taught them they would not agree on everything, especially on policy, administration and legislation. But…….. He instructed them to STAY UNITED…….. even when some would be arrested, persecuted, and executed…… STAY UNITED. Christianity changed the world……. Nero feared it, because it was stronger than his army. Western culture was shaped by Christianity.

We are one nation under God! We are the United States of America…….not the Divided States of America.

I want to understand what I don’t yet understand. It’s early Spring, let’s start the weed and feeding process……..together. We have some weeds that don’t want to go away, they’ve been around too long.