“We are made and remade by voices, by choices, and by the courage to take the chisel ourselves. ‘Finding Yourself’
I cannot help but wonder what goes through another person’s mind — what they may be feeling in their hearts. Things once hidden, even shameful, are now proudly displayed. To find someone standing firmly on moral ground is no longer as profound as it once was.
Religious leaders pour more energy into politics than into the word of God. Sin is no longer shameful but celebrated. Too many live not as their own design but as clay shaped by another’s hands. Their minds are closed to everything except the image their chosen sculptor paints for them.
But I have a different philosophy. I choose to seek the truth. I step over petty distractions and focus on what matters — the life-changing. Nothing anyone else says or does defines me. I am the sculptor of this block of clay.
Each day, I see so much hate, so much division. People work tirelessly to turn molehills into mountains, justifying what they know in their hearts is wrong. Their victory is hollow, their battles already lost.
So I ask: When did you lose your heart? When did you lose your sympathy, your compassion? When did you lose yourself? How can anyone believe they are qualified to teach, guide, or inspire when their eyes, ears, mind, and heart are closed to the perspectives of others?
Social media magnifies this. It can connect, but it can also destroy. It is the nuclear version of the pen being mightier than the sword. The motivation behind most of what you see or hear online is not truth but money, ratings, and popularity. Narratives are controlled. Even definitions of words are rewritten. With AI and endless noise, separating fact from fiction has never been harder. And all the while, unseen sculptors keep molding the willing into their own design.
Give 500 people the same book, and you will hear 500 interpretations. Some align, some contradict, and some insist on quoting “word for word” while twisting every sentence. Perception is a powerful sculptor.
So what is the answer? That depends on you. Will you accept what your cousin’s girlfriend’s best friend’s co-worker claimed on TikTok? Or will you put in the work to uncover the truth for yourself? It will not be easy. There are always obstacles because there are always those who want control. They want puppets, not thinkers.
But you don’t need a Ph.D. to know right from wrong. That wisdom was etched long ago, carved into stone. The Ten Commandments — whether or not you believe in God — cannot be denied as a foundation for good.
No matter your faith, politics, race, wealth, or education, if you celebrate the suffering of others — if you find humor in tragedy, or cheer at the death of someone because they held different ideals — you reveal not strength, but cruelty. How can you protest the killing of one life and cheer the killing of another? Such hypocrisy is a mirror that demands a long, hard look.
I am not writing this to attack those who disagree with me politically, spiritually, or personally. I am writing this because our world is being consumed by hate, greed, lust, and jealousy. Instead of joining together to resist it, too many work against each other, trying to justify it. It’s time to wake up. To take charge of who you are and what you stand for. To stop letting others define you.
There are things in life where no gray area can exist. Right or wrong. Legal or illegal. Good or evil. When leaders excuse criminals and release them back into society, the innocent always pay the highest price. Until leaders feel the pain themselves, they will never change.
If you are satisfied with the way this world looks today, then you are part of the problem. If you scroll past cruelty with sarcastic laughter, blind indifference, or cold detachment, you are part of the problem. With the technology we have, there is no excuse for such violence and lawlessness. Every city has resources to restore safety. Why, then, do we twist solutions into propaganda or lies? Why do we shrug at the truth that no one feels safe anymore?
Perhaps it is because it has not touched you yet. Perhaps you are one of those who must feel the burn before believing fire is hot. But the truth is clear: most people have had enough. This is not the world we want to live in.
Change is coming. We are changing. You can change with us — or you can remain alone in the dark until you finally find yourself.
Simply My Thoughts
Dean Butler
