There's something I do that's got to be one of the dumbest things ever. I subscribe to news pages on my Facebook account (that, of course isn't the dumb thing). I read a controversial article like the one about the ninety-three year old woman in Hearne that was shot by a police officer, or an article about how bullies are a product of parents who never cared to teach their children better.

The writers of these articles are gifted at inciting the emotions of Know-it-alls like myself. Thus here comes the dumb part; I read the comments at the end of the article. I silently warn myself as I scroll, "Don't do it, don't read these". But invariably, I read the comments. And I find myself boiling at the insensitivity and lack of knowledge some people feel the need to share. Even worse, my finger hovers over the keyboard willing to give my piece.

Like many people, I always have an opinion and it's usually a strong one. But in the moments that I have my wits about me, I realize that my opinion is only based on my knowledge and personal experience. I'd be foolish not to realize that my scope of brilliance on such matters is limited.

We weren't there. I wasn't there when a lady driving in Beaumont struck a child in the road. I don't know whether she was looking at her phone. I also don't know if the child's mother put her outside unsupervised to be in the road.

Many times in teaching, I've had kids that would want to accompany their buddies to come and share how "Jade" was mean to "Lisa". One of my first questions would be "Were you there?  If not, I don't need to hear from you". Many times little mobs would form, creating trouble where it wasn't.

I see the same mob mentality from adults every day in the comment section of just about every article written; even on seemingly indisputable subjects. Ignorantly, I've often silently joined that mob.

We can only make assumptions. Recently a tragedy occurred where a Senior girl was found dead in a hotel room in the early morning after her prom. Many commenters immediately assumed that her mother allowed her to be in that hotel room and spewed venom towards a broken woman who only hours before had lost her child. I get that we wonder why the young girl was at the hotel. I get how we allow our mind to form a scenario, but we don't need to assume and then share those judgements based on those assumptions. It's reckless.

When I'm talking (in expert form) I often hear the words God spoke to Job,

"Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without wisdom".

We fail to recognize that the author often intentionally only lets us know what they want us to know. Back to the case of the ninety-three year old shot by the police officer. Many of the articles I read made it sound like a "gun happy" officer drove to an elderly woman's house and fired at a defenseless woman without cause.

I then read where her nephew called 911 because she had taken possession of a firearm because he wouldn't hand over her keys after she failed her driving test. He stated that she fired three shots toward the officer before he fired at her.

Why do I think the information was missing from the other articles? Because there seems to be a bandwagon of believers thinking that officers, in cockiness, shoot because they can. I can't deny that this may happen, but I believe that there's often effort to portray officers this way. Likewise there's a bandwagon of believers who feel parents other than themselves are lazy, selfish and ignorant.

Knowing all this, I guess I'm still charmed with the curiosity that has killed droves of cats. I read knowing the doom. And then I get so exasperated that I feel the need to pipe in with my own two cents.

As much as I love Facebook, it's the perfect playground for this sort of nonsense. We have a platform from which to speak, even if our comments are nonsense. Sometimes our platform is bigger if our comments are nonsense. We unwittingly have that knee jerk reaction.

I recently read how ALL parents who treat their children under the autism spectrum with medication are lazy at best and child abusers at worst. "They shouldn't even have children." I read comments on how obese children are in fact obese only because their parents put them in front of a TV and feed them sugar all day.

Parenting skills are bashed. Police officers, teachers and other professionals have their name run in the ground without the whole story. We're still entitled to freedom of speech. I hope that privilege is never taken from us. But as Christians, don't we have a responsibility that weighs at least equal to that freedom?

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. James 3: 9,10

I often consider my feelings righteous indignation. Am I ever wrong about that? And even more, am I supposed to think that inciting online mob violence is more purposeful than laying our frenzied thoughts and comments at the feet of the one who is always present, never makes assumptions and is the author of the whole truth?

Many of us need to ask ourselves that question.