UNITY?

If you were not already friends with someone before any divisions arose pre-Trump, I fear "unity", if possible, will take a lot of work on both sides. And even then, I doubt major headway will occur as often as I hope it does. It's more than likely it will take work with many pre-Trump relationships as well. I can work to forgive, and agree to disagree with people, but it's very hard to do when I've been called nasty things, simply because I chose to vote for President Trump. I expect it is the same for anyone I may have slammed with things similar.

I am currently finding that with people that do not know me already, it is extremely hard to find a DMZ where we can meet and together listen and learn from each other. Nothing I personally believe is "cemented" in place. So it is not impossible to listen attentively,  to opposing viewpoints. It takes effort, sometimes a lot of effort, to do this, but it comes down to what is more important to me - Being Right or Learning when I am Wrong? At 70, It's the learning that makes living so exciting and pleasurable for me.

I am more of a hermit in my old age than when I was younger. I don't mind sitting at home alone, really. I once thought, or rather told myself it was "other people" I wanted to avoid, but it's really how "me, myself, and I" recharge most comfortably. I like other people. It's what I loved the most about being an RN. I was able to meet many different people from different cultures, faiths, beliefs, and racial and ethnic groups. Coming home and being alone at night was my way to recharge so I could be fully present for others the next day. (And yes, there were days when that did not go well. On my part.)

Do I have a point? I think I do. I really like people. It indeed bothers me when people are as divided as many are these days. I'm not going to sit here and cry away the rest of my days, but I am aware there has been a lot of damage done, not by whomever is in the White House, but by us. Pogo is still right.* I want to do what I can to weaken his statement. But I can't change you, I can only change myself. I am responsible for what I do and say. No one's behavior makes me do or say anything. I allow myself to respond in anger and choose the actions I take, or don't take, in response to you.

One foundation belief that, in order for me to reject or modify it, I would require a lot of evidence supporting, ? Judging ANY INDIVIDUAL by something they had no choice over when they were born.

Systems that might have been established to favor such a thing over others? I am absolutely willing to listen to such a claim. I know such systems have existed, and still exist. I also believe that some systems do change over time. Not necessarily because of the system itself, but because the people working in that system, change. 

If your presentation of anything includes calling me names, names that carry no meaningful evidence of my own behavior adding up to what the name suggests, it's going to be a lot harder for me to hear you. 

Personally? I'll still try. Not because doing so offers a guarantee we will make headway in our discussion, although I hope we still can, but rather because I want to understand what you are saying underneath all the emotion. That's all I ask of you in return. I require this of myself, it is not required, by me, of you.

"The whole law is made complete in this one command: 'Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself.' If you continue hurting each other and tearing each other apart, be careful, or you will completely destroy each other." (Galatians 5: 14-15 ERV)

 

 

* "We have met the enemy, and he is us." From the comic strip Pogo, copyright by Walt Kelly, 1971.

 

 

Why Another Blog?

What you will find here is the process by which I try to make sense out of the world.  Everything posted here will be a work in progress. (I'd like to reduce the chances of having to deal with the occasional Troll, so comments are disabled.) I'm not an anonymous Internet entity, so you can find me elsewhere if you feel you really need to comment on something posted here.

Sometimes I say things that once I have said them, I change my thoughts on the same. Sometimes I say things I wish I had never let out of my mouth. Sometimes I say things that cover one aspect of an issue on the way to giving a more complete picture of what I think/believe/feel. Throughout my life I've had a tendency to go off on a dozen tangents before finally getting to my "point." My writing, however, tends to be a little easier to follow than my speaking. 

(Please note I said "easier," not necessarily easy.)

There will be posts where I share links to videos, or articles, or other resources, not because I agree with everything in them, but because they play a part in how I work through things. Elsewhere I might engage in talking about how I feel about other people, but here it will be a personal journey, looking at my own fallacies, biases, actions (healthy and unhealthy,) and struggles.

I am not looking to give anyone "answers" on anything. If I say I believe something, I do. That does not mean I am correct in my belief, simply that I believe it at the time I say I do. My life has been a journey of changing my mind as I am introduced to new information, being helped to look at old information differently, or gaining a better understanding as to how my own biases have shaped what I thought was an unbiased interpretation of the known data. 

Nothing here is meant to suggest I am better than someone else. If you wish to look for something negative to pin on me, you will find it.  

I can't make people focus on where my journey is taking me. Some seem far more intent on judging others by where they came from and not on where they are going. I have been guilty of that as well. I have said stupid things I wish I had never said. I have done things I wish I had never done. I can't erase my past, simply learn from it and do differently now. I can also continue to work on letting you do the same.


It is my hope that someone, somewhere, might benefit from reading where I have come from, how I got here, and how I process information to figure out what I think about the way the world is evolving. If nothing else, I hope writing it all down helps me move forward.




(Of course there is always the possibility that I will leave you feeling more befuddled than when you started. If that happens, odds are I am as well.)


P.S. I know there are folks who get their "happiness" by seeking to mess with other people's stuff. Someone might be able to hack my blog and post things that I hope I would not say, think, or post. I ask, if anything ever appears here that seems to be out of context to everything else, that you extend to me the benefit of the doubt and allow me time to address it. Thank you.

P.P.S. When I use terminology that might not be clear as to the specific definition I am using for it, I will clarify.