IN A world that’s often changing there is one thing that still remains true and that is you and I have been blessed with the power to change our world with our words.

“You have been taught to love your neighbour and hate your enemy but I tell you this love your enemies pray for those who torment you and persecute you in so doing you become children of your father in heaven he after all loves each of us good and evil kind and cruel he causes the Sun to rise and shine on evil and good like he causes the rain to water the fields of the righteous and the fields of the sinner” Matthew 5:43-45 (the voice version).

What has this got to do with the price of bread and the crisis we face in the cost of living globally? Here’s my answer: there is so much that affects all of us. There is too much that offends all of us, whether it’s one of our modern day “heroes” wearing a T-shirt that not only causes a storm but seems to unravel all the great work done by millions before him, or people we have voted into office-making decisions which to many makes it clear how little they care for the people who champion them.

Whatever the case, there are enough words, enough people, enough situations to give us all a reason to despair and curse out loud. However, I wonder if today you would consider that person in the media, politics, your family, your workplace whose words and actions have become so offensive, divisive, hurtful and downright dangerous to our well-being.

Before you make a comment on your next phone call berating them and telling others to do the same or on your social media timeline. Before you give a report to others to influence their opinion, will you consider taking a breath and saying a prayer for that person? Would you consider putting a pause on the action you were going to take and asking yourself the question is there something that I can’t see that may have affected this situation.

I’m not suggesting that you agree with bad or unacceptable behaviour but could it be that there is an explanation. I watched a commentator in a discussion with the great media mogul Roland Smith recently. The commentator made this point about a situation that’s still been discussed he explained that the young man who seemingly had committed the cardinal sin of wearing a T-shirt with a slogan that many if not all in the black community found offensive is one who clearly has gone through trauma that is unresolved. 

He pointed out that the young man had lost his mother and the whole world watched him unravel as he grappled with the grief. The same young man had been called a jackass by the first black president of his country when the young man stood up to speak against what he believed to be racism against black people in the entertainment industry, that the same had been cancelled when he had spoken against another former president who he believed his actions showed he did not care for black people. 

The contributor to talking to Roland Smith went on to say he may not agree but can see how Kanye West got to where he is that he’s a walking ball of unresolved trauma. 

This brings me back to my first statement you and I have the power to change our world. Once we become aware of an infraction by someone else before we pull the trigger on judgement and execution can we pause to pray for the person consider if you were in their shoes how would you want someone to pray for you. It’s asking a lot but this could be a step that allows us to better judge our reaction before pulling the pin out of the grenade and lobbing it.

Muyiwa Olarewaju OBE is Station Director at Premier Gospel Radio, a TV & Radio Broadcaster, and Principal of gospel group Muyiwa & Riversongz