Blog Post #4

            The day after the election of Donald Trump, I was talking to a friend about our feelings of the events of the past twenty-four hours. She told me that she was going to a lecture from Rhodes professor, Dr. Zandria Robinson, later that night and asked if I would like to join her.  

When we got to the venue, the crowd was somber. There were people hugging, crying and just trying to figure out how to react to something that many thought could never happen. It was obvious that this was a place that many had come to grieve but also to try and figure out how they could proceed.

            One topic that was discussed was her paper that was going to be published in the coming weeks and in this paper she discusses the concept of undertones, specifically in reference to her deceased father. She talked about how her father did not usually express himself in words, but rather actions. She knew that her father loved her, however he did not often actively say it to her when she was a child. This then required her to listen to the undertones of what he was saying. This included listening to his body language or his gestures. It was about figuring out how he chose to express himself and listening to him in that way.

I think that this is a concept that can be applied to American society as a whole at the current moment. In the past month when I have tried to approach speaking about politics with family and friends, hardly anyone ever comes out to me and says that they voted for Donald Trump. Not many will claim that his name is the one that they checked on the ballot. However, when I discuss my views on particular social issues or beliefs, a new aura overtakes the conversation and it becomes clear to me that the other party is uncomfortable with the conversation that we are having. It is obvious to me that the most telling thing about the conversation that I am having with them is not what they are saying, but how they are saying it. Sometimes, in order to truly understand what someone is thinking, we have to listen to what they are not saying more than what they actually are. It is important that when trying to have a discourse with someone, that how they choose to express themselves is going to be the best way to reach them. By looking for the ways in which they express their emotions, we can find how best to reach them.

This statement is a reminder that we have to listen to the undertones of people’s conversations. We cannot just base what we think off of what they are saying, but their undertones as well. It is easy to hide what one thinks when speaking but it is much more difficult to hide the way in which one acts according to how they feel. It calls us to listen to the undertones of America to best figure out how to reach people's hearts. In order to hope to initiate any real change in American society, we must not only change what people are saying but also how they are saying it.

http://theologylive.podomatic.com