Dana Perino Shares Her Journey to Peace, Reveals One of Her High-Profile Role Models

Tré Goins-Phillips : Mar 4, 2021
Faithwire.com

"You don't say 'hi' to everybody, but I started wishing every single person that I saw well in some way. For example, if I saw a mom with her kid on the subway, I would just say, 'I pray that they get home safely.' Or, 'I pray that he has a good day at work.' Or, 'I pray that he has an opportunity today to really show his boss how great he is.'" -Dana Perino

[Faithwire.com] When Dana Perino left the White House in 2009 after serving as former President George W. Bush's press secretary for two years, she didn't have a Twitter account. But at the height of last year's contentious presidential brawl, she felt the weight of what it means to be consumed by social media. (Screengrab image: via Faithwire)

That shows just how fast the world has changed—and how consequential those changes have been.

"God intended us to be joyful people," Perino said during a recent interview with Faithwire. "Of course we're going to go through a lot of hard times, but that feeling of serenity that I crave is, I think, one of God's greatest gifts."

In her quest to find peace—and keep it, practically speaking—Perino, who serves as co-anchor of "America's Newsroom" on Fox News, said she had to learn how to rein in the authority social media had over her life.

Left unchecked, she said, the divisiveness of Twitter "can be horrible" and can leave you wanting to "crawl under your desk and be in the fetal position and not want to talk anymore."

As it turns out, Perino had been targeted by "bots"—autonomous accounts that post tweets via a programming software, often spamming prominent figures through their mentions and direct messages—and it was impacting her personally and professionally.

"Being so preoccupied with what's happening on social media, it's not good for a marriage," she admitted. "It's not good for my relationships with my family. In fact, my husband kept asking, 'Is there something I can do?' [I told him], 'No, there's nothing you can do.' But guess who can do something about it? I can do something about it."

Perino has since changed her Twitter settings so she only sees replies to her tweets from people she already follows on the platform, a shift she said cut out some 90% of the hateful attacks against her... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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