I hate. A lot.
Yes, the guy who ends his essays with Christ’s second command to “love one another,” hates. There, I said it.
Author: Clay Rivers
Author & optimist. Editor, Our Human Family. Writing about equality, racism, and faith. "Embrace all that you are and strive to become all that God created you to be.”
10 Things You (Probably) Don’t Know About Me
Clay at Disney’s Magic Kingdom Theme Park, circa not that long ago.
Thanks to the lovely Lecia Michelle for tagging me in this challenge! Here goes, tipping my hand just a little. Hopefully, not too much.
1. I am not a fan of children.
I don’t have the patience for them. They’ve got too much energy and require a ton of attention. They’re not high maintenance.
How You’re Wasting Your Time Arguing with Angry People
Photo by taha ajmi on Unsplash
People who don’t listen aren’t interested in a conversation. What they want is to stand on their soapbox and give a lecture.
It seems with each passing day that it’s becoming more difficult for people with differing opinions to have reasonable discussions about those differences in opinion. Call me an optimist, but I do believe it’s still possible. The trick is to
have a strategy before you start the discussion. Otherwise, it’s way to easy for the conversation to dissolve into a real world version of “Clash of the Titans.”
Are You Ready for Some Football?
Pre-Game
Yesterday, Nike kicked off a new ad campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, in celebration of its thirtieth anniversary of its iconic Just Do It campaign — three days before the 2018 NFL Kickoff Game takes place in Philadelphia, with the Falcons visiting the Eagles.
The Top 5 Worst Approaches to Managing Life’s Challenges
Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
–Albert Einstein
Humans. We’re reactive by nature. Give me a puppy, a sweet potato pie, a lump of gold, or a month-long vacation in France, and I’ll give you a positive reaction every time. A boa constrictor, lima beans, a lump of coal in my Christmas stocking, or a fresh parking ticket will produce a reaction somewhere along the negative end of the emotional spectrum.
Today’s Evangelical Christians Are Neither Evangelical Nor Christian
How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?
No, that’s not a plank in some Liberal “snowflake” platform, nor is it a principle from a Communist manifesto. That question comes from Scripture, 1 John 3:16–17 (NRSV), to be exact.
The Trouble with Words
Photo by Lui Peng on Unsplash
If you think that not using labels when referring to “other” people is all it takes to make you post-racial, pull up a chair. It’s time we had a little chat.
Racism is a Bad Look for Anyone (Especially If You’re the Star of a Top TV Network Sitcom)
Roseanna Barr by Vera Anderson, Getty Images.
I’ll keep this short.
Roseanne Barr. What hasn’t been said about her? How about this? She’s thoughtful, well-grounded, humble, and socially aware. Or perhaps, she has an unparalleled sense of nuance in areas of race, equality, and social justice. No? What about this then? She’s a pioneer at finding new frontiers that unite all Americans.
“Oh, Behave!” –Austin Powers
A few days ago a rather unfortunate scene played out on Twitter over what appears to have began as a misunderstanding rooted in cultural differences and semantics. But it goes to show that words, cultural biases and differences, and intentions matter more than we think. I was mentioned in the original Shonda Rhimes thread on Saturday and have watched the flurry of tweets fly in. I’d like to share a little insight that might unravel this situation. This isn’t “man-splaining” or anything of the sort. I’m just a guy who likes seeing people get along.
I Had to Say it Again
THE NEWS OF PRINCESS Diana’s death hit me like a brick in the face.
I know exactly where I was when I heard the news. I was up watching late night TV in my tiny Studio City apartment when the news anchor read the announcement that Princess Diana had been killed in a Paris car crash. I found it ironic that the most photographed woman in history, who shared the same name as the Roman goddess of the hunt, was herself hunted.