My stepdad was a huge fan of independent thinking. In fact, he was its biggest advocate. 

A family member or friend could never get away with passing on misinformation when he was around…especially if things didn’t “sound right.” He never argued or corrected people. Instead, he asked questions.   

After he asked the questions, he would revisit their original statement and encourage the person to think critically about what they said. The funny thing is, more often than not, they would laugh, say something like “wow, I guess that really doesn’t make much sense, does it?” They never felt badly or berated by my stepdad, but they were sure to think twice before sharing misinformation and immediately passing it off as fact (a very dangerous thing, indeed). 

Last month (as we do on a daily basis in this age of scrolling and social media), I came across an online news article…and like any good member of modern society, after I finished reading, I went straight to the comments. 

As I read the different perspectives on the topic, it was the reader who reminded the readers to “listen to your ‘gut’ and if it doesn’t make sense to you or if you have questions about what is being presented that would be a good time to research it out and get answers first rather than pass it on”.
Sounds like my stepdad!

Hope can be found in our thinking, but we need to sit still enough to exercise it. And where there’s hope, there’s a way.

 In loving memory of Ryland Johnson