About a month after returning from my mission, Elliot Rodger killed 6 people and injured 14 others before killing himself. This tragedy is known as the Isla Vista Massacre. Around the time I found out about that, I also saw this Inspirational Message (formerly known as Mormon Messages). It’s stuck with me ever since. I wanted to write a blog post about it, but the time slipped away from me. With what’s going on in the nation right now, I felt it was an appropriate time to bring it up.

As a personal rule, I do my best to keep politics off my blog. This isn’t a political space. Hopefully this is the most political I get on here.

Right now there’s a lot of turmoil, unrest, and hurting in the United States. It feels like every other day there’s something else in the news about someone being killed, thrown in jail, or more riots and violence. Mixed in with the heated topics already in the media, we have our presidential election coming up in November.

On a daily basis people are having arguments left and right (no political pun intended) about what’s right, what’s wrong, what’s moral, what’s immoral, etc. In all my years of living, I’ve never seen such hatred and animosity. Maybe it’s always been there but I was too ignorant to see it. Or maybe it’s finally all boiled over.

To be honest, I’ve been in some of those arguments/discussions. I’ve made posts that people don’t like and they comment. I’ve made comments on posts that I don’t like. And yes, I’ve even had to unfollow a few people because my emotions get too high. Perhaps that’s a sign of immaturity, but at least taking that person off my feed is better than constantly engaging them in useless arguments.

Lately I’ve been reminded of a verse of scripture from Luke 12. This verse was spoken by Christ in regards to the preaching of the gospel, but I feel it also applies to right now:

53. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

Luke 12:53

I feel a little like the news anchor in the video: overwhelmed, consumed by the media, anxious. Now, granted, her job is in media so she can’t escape it as easily as the rest of us can. But that look of exhaustion and tiredness on her face … I feel that. A lot. It’s a feeling that penetrates to the soul.

It also bubbles over to the people around me. I get cranky, snappy, agitated, annoyed, and frustrated with others. That’s not the type of person I want to be.

So what’s the answer? I think it’s in the first word of the hymn that serves as the video’s music: abide.

The text is from “Abide with Me!” by Henry F. Lyte, music by William H. Monk. It’s one of the most comforting, softest hymns in the hymnbook. The lyrics by themselves are wonderful. I understand that not everyone believes in God, but the request to have someone by our side, to help us through the difficult times is universal.

What does abide mean? According to Merriam-Webster, there are two definitions. First off, abide is a verb. As a transitive verb (meaning it affects another object), the first definition means “to bear patiently; to endure without yielding.” As an intransitive verb, it means “to remain stable or in a fixed state; to continue in a place.”

In regards to the hymn, abide is being used as a transitive verb. What’s the object? Me. The abiding affects the person.

I can see how, more than ever, we need to abide in today’s world. In the sense of the second definition, we need to abide by what we believe. We need to be firm and steadfast in our beliefs. We need to stand up for what is right.

But at the same time, despite our differences, we need to abide by those who are hurting and need help. “Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me!” This message goes for me as well – we need to learn how to agree to disagree, acknowledge other’s viewpoints without feeling it’s a personal attack, and help others weather this storm. This can take us out of our comfort zone, but how else are we supposed to grow?