Thousands of people in cities across the country will “scream helplessly at the sky” today.

Why? The New York group invites you to “Join us cucks and snowflakes, safe spacers and libtards, as we enjoy a collective cathartic yell into the heavens about our current political establishment.” One organizer told Newsweek they want to remind anti-Trumpers “we are part of an enormous community of activists who are motivated and angry, whose actions can make a difference.”

By screaming for a hour.

That’s incredibly childish. You can’t deal with life by screaming at everything you don’t like. We teach toddlers to “use your words” when they’re upset, rather than throw temper tantrums. Why should we encourage adults to throw a tantrum?

But wait a minute. Those of us sniffing at the Nov. 8 screamers should look in the mirror. Chances are, we’re not as guiltless as we think.

When I Fail at Civil Dialogue

I say this because for the last few days, I’ve been meaning to write this article. Except a different version. One where I scoff at the immature scream-at-what-you-can’t-accept culture of the modern left.

This morning I was thinking about how I’d write it. And I heard God say, What about you? Don’t you scream at things you don’t like?

Me, defensively: What? Pshaw. I appreciate respectful debate. Civil dialogue. I write about listening to people we disagree with.

God: Yeah, but how often do you really exhibit such self-control in your personal life?

God, as always, was right.

I love to talk about promoting civil dialogue. I really do. Even still, my initial reaction to political craziness is often a biting tweet or disparaging comment rather than healthy debate.

But this knee-jerk tendency goes beyond public debate. It affects my personal and spiritual life, too.

When my own husband says something I don’t like, disagree with or don’t want to hear, I tend to respond in frustration, anger, and … well, you get it.

And when life’s suddenly not going so great, when things happen I don’t want, my initial reaction isn’t to have, um, civil dialogue with God. It’s to scream at God. Or forgo dialogue altogether, avoiding his Word when I need it most.

Out of the Abundance of the Heart

The truth is that the tendency to throw tantrums at what we don’t like is an epidemic. Not just a leftist epidemic; a human one. And it permeates all areas of life, including how we relate to political opponents, loved ones, and yes — God.

We’re told in Luke 6:45, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (emphasis mine). What’s inside will eventually force its way out. If we really listen to ourselves, we may find out that there’s ugliness in our hearts we don’t want to admit. But those who listen to us scream, they know. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

This isn’t to say we shouldn’t criticize people being ridiculous, like the upcoming “scream helplessly at the sky” gatherings. Or that we shouldn’t call out college students who can’t tolerate diverse viewpoints. These behaviors indicate real threats to the future of our republic.

But before we go on a rampage against screaming snowflakes, we might do well to look inward and analyze our own scream habits. What’s in our hearts? How often do we scream helplessly at the sky, when we should be talking and listening to others and talking and listening to God?