What do we as a society value?

Do we value honesty?

I’m not sure that is the case.

Those who are the most honest and blunt often reveal things others don’t want to hear. The truth can be ugly, and saying the wrong thing can end in a social media-fueled wormhole. I hate the term, but “cancel culture” exists, and, while some have rightfully lost a job or respect over abhorrent behavior, I fear it has silenced some truly good people. There is often more potential penalty than benefit for speaking out.

So, then, do we value timidity?

I also don’t think that is the case. If it were true, the forces that define society wouldn’t preach about speaking out, standing up, having a “conversation.” Those who are careful and humble are either run over by the loud masses or are assumed to be covering up the truth. Be loud, be proud, and make sure your voice gets heard above the others.

Wait a second.

Conversation.

Do we value conversation?

No, that can’t be true. We are having some great and needed discussions in our country right now. They are long overdue, and are resulting in some tough but important change. But a conversation can only be considered one if it is two ways. And I fear that truly honest conversations come with the same risks as telling the truth, as mentioned above. Therefore, some of those “conversations” feel quite like one-way echo chambers.

OK, then. We all feel like we are good and right. So do we then value morality?

Nope. We can’t even agree on what is moral anymore. Almost every social viewpoint seems to include some form of morality, but, instead of focusing on our own, we are too quick to call out someone else: You have no morality! No … YOU have no morality! People who adamantly feel they are acting on moral principles are more likely to be called immoral by those who oppose their viewpoints. It’s maddening.

I can only come to one conclusion. We most certainly must value nuance, gray viewpoints rather than black and white viewpoints. Slow-to-anger thought patterns that come from realizing the truth often falls somewhere in the middle. Given the upside-down nature of our values, it must be that we value being that final kid in dodgeball, head swiveling while trying to make sense of the projectiles darting around him.

No, sadly, that isn’t the case either.

A look at what has happened politically in this country reveals the dominant parties have continued to separate themselves to the edges, bringing many people with them. Once a phenomenon, a growing right wing and left wing appear to be here to stay.

It is at this point where the muddiness of our current American society stands. We don’t agree on much of anything any more, and we continue to agree with less and less. Both sides think they have the answer, but the answer never includes give and take. It always includes a complete breakdown of all that the other side believes, which, of course, means the other side will never budge.

A gentle suggestion: Let’s turn ourselves to valuing hope.

That the glass is half-full more than it is half empty. That, once all the political and social media buzz is separated, there are many good people out there helping out others. That God’s plan is our own, even with the world around us seemingly pocked by lightning bolts.

Hope. When I think of hope, I think of one of the brilliant Declaration of Independence. Created in the shadow of another uncertain time, it encapsulated what American values were to be:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Jeremy Speer is the publisher of The Courier in Findlay, Ohio, The Advertiser-Tribune in Tiffin, Ohio, and the Review Times in Fostoria, Ohio. He can be reached at jeremyspeer@thecourier.com or jspeer@advertiser-tribune.com.