There’s a revolution starting. An entire generation of folks who are going stand in the face of sensationalist journalism and a culture of panic one by one, family by family, neighborhood by neighborhood.
We are going to chill out a bit.
The problem starts with me. I get three sentences deep into reading a post at (insert news outlet).com and I’m angry, I’m passionately writing my congressman, and I’m trying desperately to fit my angst and frustration into 140 characters that will motivate my tribe of 500 followers on twitter to panic and freak out with me.
Between the 24-hour news cycle and people trying to sell gold, there’s hardly enough room for sensibility. And it certainly isn’t marketable.
It’s time to take a deep breath and Assume the Best.
I’m starting a series here at the blog that will highlight some areas about which we can do a whole lot of good by simply assuming the best about the motives of people around us. It’ll be lighthearted (because that’s how we roll here at ATB) and fun, but also helpful and honest. I’m going to use myself as the “what not to do” often, but I hope to step on your toes as well. Democrats and republicans, football fans and chess team members: nobody will be safe.
The end goal? I hope to be a voice of reason sounding a dissonant note in a chorus of panicked punditry. It’s not time to panic. It’s time to Assume the Best.
There is nothing more winsome than a church (or family, or workplace) where the culture is set to assume the best about the intentions of others.
But first I need your help. So far I’ve got a few ideas about topics to cover (politics, economics, church gossip, UNC/Dook rivalry, Minivan envy, etc) but I need some more. The ground rules for submissions are simple, and as follows:
- You may not submit something about which you yourself have no need of chilling out. That means conservatives are forbidden from telling liberals things that that they need to chill out about. Personal accountability starts with me, not the people with whom I disagree.
- You must email your submissions to (removed, we’re no longer accepting submissions) or comment on this post.
Some of you are just excited that the name of the site will finally make sense. I’m OK with that. Let’s start a revolution of Assuming the Best!