text: Free Speech is Never Free - IN DEFENSE OF TRUTH Welcome to my endeavor to stimulate your thinking, excite your imagination, and challenge your convictions. No trash … just truth … with love!
  You are here: Home / Commentary: My View / Free Speech is Never Free
  Mr. Trump lost the election, whether by a vote of the people or by fraud will never be known, but one thing is beyond question: he damaged himself and, perhaps, lost the election, by his rhetoric. It grieves me to acknowledge this for I believe he has been good for America.
  Despite an admirable agenda and responsible leadership, and despite a nation that will always be in his debt, Donald Trump shot himself in the mouth by the things he said. A case can be made that Mr. Trump talked himself out of the Presidency; the Statesman was damaged beyond repair by words that were vindictive, insulting, and often unfair.
  This, however, is no time to jump on the bandwagon and condemn President Trump. We have all been guilty of venting our frustration, of saying things we wish we could retract, of hurting, or being hurt by, the people we love.
  I have an Aunt who, frustrated with me for some petty reason I can no longer recall, said, "Larry, a little of you goes a long way!" It still hurts … and my relationship with her has forever been clouded by something she said twenty-five years ago.
  Words hurt because of what we believe about ourselves. Praise or a word of appreciation is easily dismissed because we don't believe it ourselves. Most of us carry such a poor self-image we accept as true and are hurt by every unkind word that comes our way.
  But God can change that image and that's the point to all of this. God can make of you and me the person we could never be without Him, a person deserving of the respect we all crave. And he does so not by giving us new self-respect, but by making us into a new person. Far from perfect, and still in need of growth and maturity, we may agonize over what we aren't but we can praise God for who are. No man comes to God but what he is changed, and the change is always for the better!
  I believe Mama Gobran, the Mother Teresa of Egypt, had it right.
  Speaking at the 2011 Global Leadership Summit sponsored by the Chicago, Illinois Willow Creek Community Church, Mama Gobran got our attention when she said,
  Silence your words, that you may listen to your thoughts; silence your thoughts, that you may listen to your heart; silence your heart, that you may listen to God.
  King David, quoted in the Old Testament book of Psalms, wrote, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight." Indeed, what we say impacts what we think, and what we think determines what we say.
  You have often been told that to change the way you are, you must change the way you think. True … and if you will give God a chance, He will change both!