Life can get very complicated

My column in today's print Herald Express - You might have thought that after the nasty negative rhetoric surrounding the last election that things might have quietened a little. But no, the need to say unpleasant things about people appears to be chugging along quite nicely.

At a national and local level, the blistering attacks continue and the chipping away at our political elite seems to be at an all-time high. Doubtless those who take more than they should need to be called to account, but whether public humiliation is the best way forward is, it seems to me, doubtful.

I have always liked the mantra that suggests if you don’t have something nice to say then say nothing at all. Hurtful words can do so much damage; even to those with the thickest of skins.

Is it the human condition to always seek unpleasant things to say about others?

Hopefully, the answer is no, and that wallowing in the negative isn’t our natural default position. There is an old saying that suggests to err is human. Having spent so much time getting it wrong, I have a certain empathy with that!

Is that need to denigrate fostered in the very young in the school playground? The tribal banter of “he said, she said” echoes in my mind from distant memory. The little school playground groups that include some and exclude others will strike a chord with many.

Politically, I continue to worry about the example being set for our young people by our elected leaders. Surely, we can do better? We must do better.

I am mindful of the biblical comment about he who is without sin casting the first stone! We all get it wrong from time to time. Social media now provides a superb platform for casting stones.

Like the anonymity provided by a crowd throwing stones, the various social media platforms provide countless opportunities for anonymous attack. That noisy online crowd is a dangerous place.

The trouble is that once negative comment gathers momentum it can become a very dangerous and destructive force.

The second part of the to err is human quotation goes on to say that to forgive is divine!

Perhaps a little more forgiveness and understanding will make the world a warmer place. Hurtful comment is a little like the ring of little waves that seem to spread endlessly across a pond when a rock is thrown in.

I am sure that we can remember the times when hurtful comment hit home. I certainly can and now worry that I may have inadvertently been guilty of harm to others.

On a lighter note, I remember reading a cartoon comment about the phrase to err is human; the cartoon went on to say that if you really want to stuff things up then get a computer!

That was written long before the onslaught of social media and the advent of smart phones.

That little cartoon depicted a frustrated keyboard warrior hurling the computer out of the window.

It is all too easy to type words without appreciating how hurtful they might be. Politicians have families and friends who might also find spiteful comments painful to read.

Critical comment should come from a place of constructive kindness, rather than undermining and spiteful rhetoric.

Think about that casting the first stone quotation and seek to keep the smile.