If you walk into the story – if you walk into Christ among us – that releases hope in our midst.

– Sister Simone Campbell

I took a step back from writing longer posts because I got tired of all the opinions flooding the internet. Sure, I’m bound to prefer to tweak a few things here and there with any given argument, but for the most part I’d rather let a few prominent voices with more energy and more resources than me hash it out while the rest of us watch.

We think that because we have platforms for voicing our opinions that we must come up with something to say. But then we’re all mumbling and grumbling and shouting over each other and nothing is resolved. I have opinions, but I tell them to my husband, my sister, a coworker, my mom. I stumble over my thoughts as I let the words pour out. I make a fool of myself, but I do it in relative privacy.

I think it may be better if we use our words for stories rather than opinions about other people’s stories. Think about it. The only truly novel thing we have to offer are our stories.

You can shout with the masses that you loathe [insert societal woe here], but your words will largely go unnoticed. But what if you told a story of overcoming prejudice, or of helping resolve a tense social situation? You have profound object lessons to present and you’re the only one with access to them.

You can jump into the battlefields of the great opinion wars – scrambling for something to add to the cacophony, elbowing and kicking the shins of anyone who dares shout over you – or you can extend your hands and weave a tale that leads the people out of darkness.

Our stories offer clarity. They offer peace. They make sense of nonsense. Your story is a little part of the human story. Tell it and listen to others and you’ll realize that most online arguments are just meaningless blips on the map of human experience, not worth a comment or a blog post or a rant.