All souls are precious in the sight of God. All of them, no exceptions. Sometimes I wonder if we mortals are capable of truly understanding such a magnanimous thought.
When we are completely honest, how often do we genuinely try to see other people as the Lord has asked us to see them? Do we let personal judgments or group affiliations stop us from loving ALL of God's children? We don't have to agree with, or even like the choices another person has made. But when a moment of opportunity is presented to us, are we capable of showing unconditional love? As adults, are we humble enough to be sincere advocates of the golden rule that we teach to our children?
The answers to these questions are definitely easier said than done, but that should not stop us from sincerely trying. Do we recognize the chance to show compassion when we see it? Are we even looking?
We need to help each other. We need to exercise compassion to one another. We need to give our eyes a break, let our ears take five, and use our heart more.
At this time of year it is more socially accepted for us to show gratitude for our blessings by caring for the downtrodden. But what about the other ten months of the year? I believe that God will hold us accountable for how much love we showed to our fellow man when it wasn't "easy", not how expertly judicious we were about exactly who, what, when, where, how, and why we should have compassion for one another.
So anyway, I don't have much else to say at the moment... I feel like this video makes the point pretty darn well on it's own.
So... the wife and kids went to the local grocery store a while back, during a community celebration of some sort, and came home with these cute little United States flags. See if you can spot the reason unfettered American capitalism is not turning out quite as well as some people would have us think.
Coming soon: the red and yellow collector's edition.
When I finally decide to sit down and write these days, I typically start with the goal of writing something I would enjoy reading if someone else had written it. My ultimate goal in writing is to connect with others by being honest about the human condition. I enjoy exploring the things that don't usually get talked about in the everyday rush of life.
The process of organizing my thoughts enough to communicate
them coherently is good exercise, it helps me feel like I am able to view the world a little bit clearer than I
did before. And if the reader enjoys taking that journey with me, then
that's an added bonus! I like to think that in one way or another, we
are all in the same
boat: we all feel joy and pain, we all want to be understood. We are all
human souls, and that gives us something in common.
At the close of my last post, I encouraged everyone to "be the best
version of yourself". When I funnel a piece of my consciousness through the keyboard, my desire is to give the best version of myself a
chance to come out and play, even if only for a brief moment in time. The truth is, I dream of contributing something to the universe that might
outlive me. Maybe that is naively ambitious of me, but I don't care. We
all have the right to dream. We all have the right to hope that
something we do in our lifetime could make a difference in the world; that we might
become a part of something bigger.
There are many ways to participate in the human "race". We can walk, we can run, and sometimes the best we can do is crawl. But at the end of the day, our attitude is what provides the real victory. In my heart, I genuinely want to be brave. I want to be the kind of person who can smile
through their pain; the kind of person who chooses to dance in the rain. I believe in the human spirit, and our power to choose to learn from hardship. But I have a confession: I don't feel brave.
I don't feel like the best version of me today, I feel flawed, and my batteries are drained. I will admit, my heart aches with discouragement at the moment. Sometimes I fear my courage is a carefully
constructed house of cards, and all it would take is a little breeze to remind me that I still have a lot of growing to do. But I know that courage is most effective when combined
with humility. A vital component of being brave is the ability to admit when you don't feel brave. Discretion is the better part of valor, as they say.
"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow." - Mary Anne Radmacher
I love that quote, it reminds me to stop counting my falls and focus on how many times I get back up; it validates the tears that build up in your heart when the harder you try, the harder life gets. In the last two months I have been in and out of the hospital several times due to a grab-bag of medical problems. The first in my recent chain of hospital visits, I was in there for five days. Sometimes the value of simply "surviving to see tomorrow" is not as cliche as it sounds.
Sometimes it seems that life tries to make us feel like our
existence has become small and insignificant, that we are just taking
up space. Despite knowing that your family and friends love you, have you ever
found yourself wanting to be reminded that you really do matter as a
unique individual? I am not talking about feeling valued because someone
else needs you, although that is important. Sometimes we need to be
reminded that we are special, regardless of our external roles and relationships.
We all stand to benefit from a clear and sustaining sense of individual
worth. In the movie "It's A Wonderful Life" that comes on TV every holiday season, Jimmy Stewart's character gets the rare gift of seeing exactly what the world would be like if he had never been born. He gets to see his neighbors, friends, and family living without any of the good that he brought into their lives... and he has a sobering revelation about the difference one person can make.
As for myself, I know there are people who's lives have intersected with mine in special and irreplaceable ways. In fact, just yesterday I had a wonderful chat with a good friend who was also having an "at the end of my rope" kind of week. We commiserated and helped each other fan the flame of hope. This "you are not alone" type of support is a simple thing that inspires me to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Beloved children's author, Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel was truly a unique person. He shared his imagination with the world in a way that reminds us all to never lose our child-like sense of wonder. He wrote:
"Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You."
This is a simple, timeless piece of wisdom. I may struggle, you may struggle, but that's okay! Acceptance is the heart of authenticity. There is no sense in comparing one person's grief to that of another. Pain is pain, sadness is sadness, and frustration is frustration. If what you are going through is a big deal to you, then it's a big deal to you... and that matters. However big or small a person's worries may seem to someone else, compassion does not have a minimum threshold to meet
before we should care for each other and bear one another's burdens. In an increasingly cold and calloused world, a little empathy goes a long way.
Patience and humility are the tools with which we can learn from the challenges we face. Of course, this is much easier said than done, but I recently came across a poem that offers some advice on the subject:
When you get what you want in your struggle for pelf, And the world makes you King for a day, Then go to the mirror and look at yourself, And see what that guy has to say.
For it isn't your Father, or Mother, or Wife, Who judgement upon you must pass. The feller whose verdict counts most in your life Is the guy staring back from the glass.
He's the feller to please, never mind all the rest, For he's with you clear up to the end, And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test If the guy in the glass is your friend.
You may be like Jack Horner and "chisel" a plum, And think you're a wonderful guy, But the man in the glass says you're only a bum If you can't look him straight in the eye.
You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years, And get pats on the back as you pass, But your final reward will be heartaches and tears If you've cheated the guy in the glass.
- Dale Wimbrow
So anyway... I may feel like a total mess today, and tomorrow, and maybe the day after that... but we all have the opportunity to learn to love "the guy in the glass", though a work in progress he/she may be.
I am honestly encouraging you to hang in there, because I need to be reminded of it myself. The synergy of that exchange helps me a lot, and I hope it can help you too. So hang in there! And if you see someone else who is having a hard time, give them a hug and tell them to hang in there too!
October 1st, 2013: The United States federal government has entered another phase of being stuck with the consequences of consistently resorting to stubborn partisan bickering and gamesmanship; instead of intelligent, reasonable, equitable methods of solving problems. And sadly, the repercussions taking effect on our nation this week, are just the tip of the iceberg of what is really wrong.
I have been thinking about what, if anything, I felt like writing about the source of these problems, and what we might do to change the future... and I think I have been able to condense my thoughts down to 3 simple questions we should all be asking ourselves right now.
So anyway, here's my take on what we as citizens can do to stem the tide of chaos rolling across America right now. I see people embracing anger and division. I see people fearing that their freedom has been taken away. But there is one freedom that I know for certain can never be taken away: the freedom to CHOOSE how we are going to respond to life, and to other people.
The Three Core Concepts of NOT Being a Ridiculous Human Being (TM)
[These questions can (and should) be applied to individuals and groups.]
ig·no·rant [ig-ner-uhnt] adjective
1. lacking in knowledge or training; unlearned: an ignorant man.
2. lacking knowledge or information as to a particular subject or fact: ignorant of quantum physics.
3. uninformed; unaware.
4. due to or showing lack of knowledge or training: an ignorant statement.
This means that if we don't actually know what we are talking about, we must first be aware that we don't know much about the subject, and then put some real effort into finding out more about it. Determining our level of ignorance in relation to a given topic is not necessarily a question of our intentions, or an insult to our capacity for intelligent thought. Ignorance is the state of being uninformed. Whether or not we choose to remain in that state is another question, better defined as apathy. Apathetic ignorance (individual or collective) can become a genuinely scary thing. For example:
EXHIBIT (A) -- Here is one example of the type of ignorance I am talking about:
If your own prejudice and/or laziness prevents you from putting a minimal amount of effort into educating yourself on the facts of an issue that you claim is of vital importance to you...
Perhaps that is the real problem.
2) Do I have my facts straight?
This means that when we finally do get off our behind, and decide to learn about the subject we are engaged in, we need to be willing to face all the facts of the matter. This willingness needs to carry us beyond the narrow or biased bits of information that don't disturb our comfort zone. Having a casual discussion with a friend, or reading the first opinion piece you get your hands on, generally doesn't qualify as getting educated on the matter.
Unfortunately, the dialog surrounding complex problems tends to become polarized pretty quickly. Developing a well-rounded understanding of a situation (especially the causal factors) when the topic at hand is overwhelming in scope, is typically more work than most of us are interested in doing.
Make sure you are getting your information from a credible source. Or even better: multiple credible sources. The information people tend to pass around via social media in particular, usually sides with one extreme or the other, makes one or more arbitrary generalizations, and grossly oversimplifies the issue at hand. These trends should be a clear signal that objective thought is not being employed. We need to resist the urge to let ourselves get excited by such sensationalism, and calmly take ownership of our own search for enlightenment.
re·search [ri-surch, ree-surch] noun
1. diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories, applications, etc.: recent research in medicine.
2. a particular instance or piece of research.
verb (used without object)
3. to make researches; investigate carefully.
verb (used with object)
4. to make an extensive investigation into: to research a matter thoroughly.
If we lack the motivation to research something we feel strongly
about, or a topic we feel socially compelled to develop an opinion on, we
may need to sit down and take honest inventory of what our current
values and priorities really are. Not what we would like them to be, but what they really are at this point in time.
Once we have obtained more reliable information, we then need to be open to the possibility of letting our discoveries change our opinions. If the prospect of new information actually altering our opinions makes us uncomfortable, I would say that is a good indicator that we have fallen out of the habit of learning. (See question #1.)
I am a big fan of simple, verifiable pieces of data that are generally self-evident, or can be documented reliably via the scientific method. For example: the time of death on a death certificate is a relatively finite piece of information, it is hard to skew the manner in which that data was obtained, or the ensuing interpretation of it. Of course, information that needs little or no interpretation is a rare and valuable commodity, but certainly worth keeping an eye out for. Statistics, on the other hand, are notoriously corruptible; easily skewed by early data contamination in the gathering phase, poorly designed methods of recording the data that promote misinterpretation, and the most common problem: selective referencing with little or no context, often accompanied by arbitrary interpretation that breeds bias. Statistics referenced solely to give teeth to one side of an argument, rather than to educate on a variety of factors, tend to be the worst offenders.
However, statistics used judiciously, with clear contextual ties to the subject matter, can be a reasonable way to illustrate a claim. The key is to avoid the trap of using statistics as a crutch in order to justify the idea being presented. If you can't make a convincing point without the statistics, you probably shouldn't be using them at all. Instead, I suggest an increased focus on obtaining a more robust personal grasp of the subject.
EXHIBIT (B) -- Here is a good example of supporting your message with data, while presenting a strong persuasive argument that stands on it's own.
3) Am I being a hypocrite?
After advocating healthy skepticism where statistics are concerned, I am going to go ahead and make one up. (Yes, my sense of humor feeds on irony.) It is easy to engage in a self-centered rant filled with 50% emotion,
25% thoughtless rhetoric, 20% childish belligerence, and 5% (or less)
verifiable fact. Conversely, having an open minded, respectful dialog can facilitate challenging our views/opinions in a way that stretches our paradigm. That's a good thing! Healthy intellectual debate creates opportunities to explore new vistas, foster tolerance, and build the habit of thinking objectively.
NOTE: Being stubbornly argumentative is not the same as useful debate. Regurgitating what you heard or read somewhere, just to "win" an argument with a stranger, doesn't count as intelligent debate! Equally important: refusing to accept input from sources that don't pander to your current opinion on the subject, does not count as sound intellectual discussion either. In general, we should do what we teach our children to do, and follow the golden rule: if you want your
opinions to be respected, then a great place to start is to respect the opinions of others.
hy·poc·ri·sy [hi-pok-ruh-see] noun, plural hy·poc·ri·sies.
1. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.
2. a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.
3. an act or instance of hypocrisy.
Being respectful and tolerant does not mean you have to agree with everyone. You can tell someone that you think their statement is not accurate, but pay careful attention not to indulge in making personal assumptions about the other party, and do your best to avoid using a condescending tone!
"As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indistinguishable from the evil that they set out to destroy." - Christopher Dawson
It is wisdom to realize that we should look past the sphere of our own existence, and strive to understand the thoughts and needs of others. In today's "modern" (not to be confused with civilized) social climate, behavior that demonstrates a clear understanding of why we should always strive to exercise compassion, is harder to find than Waldo- if he wasn't wearing that conspicuous red and white striped outfit.
If we ever find ourselves struggling (or consciously refusing) to genuinely consider the shared reality of the entire human race, not just the part of the world where we live- we need to think about how self absorbed we have become. If we can only manage to feel sympathy for those we see eye-to-eye with, it is time for some serious reflection. (See question #2.)
An important thought to ponder when tempted to mete out judgment and derision, is this:
If I disagree with the stance another person is taking on a given issue, it is up to me to remember that they might feel the way they do because of something they have experienced. How would I view this topic if my spouse, or my children, or I were on the other side of this issue? How would I be inclined to approach solving this problem, in all honesty, if I had to walk in their shoes?
EXHIBIT (C) -- To call on better words than my own:
"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." - John 13:34
He didn't say "Love one another, unless you disagree on politics." or "Love on another, unless someone else is treating you poorly." or "Love one another, unless you don't feel like it." God is not a Republican, God is not a Democrat. He is not even an American! We need to get over our foolish pride, and quit being so blasphemous as to justify our poor treatment of each other as "patriotism" or "righteousness". The eternal importance of having an attitude of kindness and humility hopefully makes sense to most people, but sadly, it is increasingly absent from too many interactions between "mature" adults in the world today. Remember:
Ultimately, if a sincere exercise in sympathy doesn't conjure up some patience and tolerance in our hearts, sufficient to be kind to those we disagree with-- then perhaps we have not humbly faced and understood the true significance of the experiences, and relationships, in our own life.
Perhaps we need to spend some time working on removing the two-by-four from our eye, before making a fuss about the splinter in someone else's. (Luke 6:42) Anger, fear, prejudice, and blame do not get us any closer to finding real, reasonable solutions to a problem. God gave us the instruction to love one another as a commandment. And it is our individual, personal responsibility do that.
This is an actual screen-shot of the page I got, while trying to research something this morning. I added the blue type because it needed to be there. ;)
The Federal Government considers education a "non-essential" service... That explains a lot.
I recently watched a rather entertaining TED talk entitled: The Art of Misdirection. The talk is presented by a professional illusionist named Apollo Robbins, who specializes in picking pockets. He spoke about the power of being able to cause another person to focus their attention wherever you want. After an impressive demonstration using a volunteer from the audience, he closed by saying:
"Attention is a powerful thing, like I said- it shapes your reality. So, I guess I'd like to pose that question to you: if you could control somebody's attention, what would you do with it?"
Today's post is a follow up to my initial impression of the 21 hour filibuster-esque speech delivered by Senator Ted Cruz earlier this week. As it turns out, Thursday's publicity stunt amounted to little more than verbal
sleight of hand. How so? Well, that's what I want to write about today. Once Senator Cruz had our attention, what exactly was he doing with it?
Well for starters, he wound up voting FOR the motion he had just demonstrated against. What happened to standing up for what you believe in Mr. Cruz? Why don't you put your money where your long-winded mouth is? The Washington Post reported the response of a prominent fellow Republican:
“I resoundingly reject that allegation,” the Arizona Republican said
after reading Cruz’s words aloud. “To allege that there are people today
who are like those who, prior to World War II, didn’t stand up and
oppose the atrocities that were taking place in Europe, because I have
an open and honest disagreement with the process . . . is an inappropriate place for debate on the floor of the United States Senate.”
McCain
said Cruz’s words belittled those who served in the war, including his
father and grandfather. He then used the rest of his brief speech to
defend his record in opposition to Obamacare, which shouldn’t have been
necessary: Nobody fought harder against the health-care reforms.
...In the end, Cruz joined the 99 other senators in voting to proceed
with the debate on the legislation Cruz seeks to block. He said he would
take his stand on the next vote, but that probably won’t go much better
for him — in no small part because of colleagues’ disdain for him,
which McCain gave voice to after the freshman senator finished his
bladderbuster.
McCain ridiculed the “extended oratory” and then
recounted his own opposition to the legislation. 'We fought as hard as
we could in a fair and honest manner and we lost,' he said."
Amazing, a senior member of his own party admits that voting and losing that vote over 40 times amounts to losing fair and square. Go figure. Besides, Cruz's speech didn't even count on record as an actual filibuster. It was quite literally just an extremely long, at times strange, side show. The knee-jerk reaction would be to make fun of that technicality, but I think
it's more interesting to ask why he would do such a thing in the first place. Why perform
such an exhausting charade if you (and your colleagues) know your efforts
are not actually going to block anything, and you are planning on
turning right around and voting the other direction anyway?
Fellow Republicans have criticized the stunt as self-promoting, but what is the real endgame here? In addition to building a healthy martyr complex, I worry that taking advantage of the indignant apathy
of the average voter may be the real objective behind this week's oratory olympics. In my experience, most people are willing to discuss politics, as long as they don't have to think about
it too much. To be fair, trying to make sense of national or even global politics is an easy way to make your head hurt in a hurry. But indignation and apathy are an odd pair, a
combination that highlights some interesting aspects of human nature.
Indignation makes us feel
like we are actively involved in an issue, it placates our natural fear of helplessness, it
feels like action. Apathy saves us the trouble of actually
taking action, it saves us from the uncomfortable experience of challenging our own perspective in order to make a truly informed decision- it is much easier to take up one stance, and stay there. It's seems increasingly rare for people to invest the time and effort to research the valid points made on both sides of an issue. Most people will just read the headlines, form a biased opinion, and
never fully realize the extent to which they are being manipulated by the very leaders they are
cheering for.
In order to come up with substantial, real world solutions to complex societal problems, we
must perpetually challenge our own views. We cannot remain static, we must make a conscious effort to continue learning, and be willing to let that knowledge expand our vision. The logistics of caring for a
nation of over 300 million diverse human beings are undoubtedly complex. As long as we
are content being held back (indefinitely) by our differences, we will not progress as a group. And in modern civilization, we need to progress as a group, now more than ever. The world is shrinking, and the core mechanics of human survival are changing. Without the group, there is no food on the grocery store shelves- and I don't know about you, but I don't own a farm. Without the group, we have no jobs, no economy. Without the group, everything falls apart. We must develop kindness, and patience. We must learn to get along, or history will repeat itself.
It is not hard to let a power hungry organization like a political party (any political party), tell you what to think. It is
hard to have an objective approach to problem solving, to consistently
seek the most fair and equitable solution for everyone concerned, and to
do it with determination and humility. It is not hard to polarize a situation, and then throw a tantrum when you don't get what you want. It is hard to be truly tolerant, open minded, and selfless.
Observe what
happens around you, among your family, friends, and coworkers-- listen to people talk about society's problems, and notice what they say and do when it comes time to point fingers. It has become part of
our culture to treat the office of President of the United States as
little more than a high profile scapegoat, for everything that goes wrong during his
term. We've definitely had presidents who have done things worthy of reproach, of that there is no doubt. But strangely, no matter how dysfunctional the legislative branch becomes, I find it fascinating that the relative degree of accountability they face, in relation to the magnitude of their failures, is so severely lacking. Consequently, the House and Senate remain essentially free to opportunistically exacerbate our problems, and bear little or no personal consequences. For example: putting an additional 800,000 Americans out of work, while simultaneously calling for economic reform and recovery, would definitely qualify as the type of hypocrisy I am talking about.
Ultimately, we are the ones who give our representatives the freedom to fail us and keep their jobs. We choose to ignore the complexity of the checks and
balances that the constitution of this nation put in place all those years ago. Instead, the order of the day is:
1. Blame the opposition for all governmental failure, regardless of scope, causal factors, or length of history.
In
today's world of no term limits for legislators, and lobbyists signing the real paychecks on capitol hill... the system is pretty thoroughly broken. One way to change this problem would be for the house and senate to vote themselves out of a job by instituting term limits. Call me crazy, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. If you want to remain in public office, just give your voter base a "worthy target" for
their indignation, and you don't need tedious things like facts. Control people's attention, and you don't
need to be accountable for your own incompetence. You don't need logic or reason if your constituents are kept busy with mindless partisan bickering. You don't need to heed the majority vote in a democratic system when you can vote on the same bill 41 separate times. You don't even need to do any real work when you show up to work. All you have to do, is live to play the game another day.
So anyway, the next time a controversial topic comes up, political or otherwise, just remember-- it's the people who are actually solving problems, and doing real good in the world, who go largely unnoticed. Loud does not equal right. Showmanship does not equal sincerity. Bold does not equal brave.
Why don't the good doers and problem solvers get the kind of attention that comes from holding your pee and reading twitter for 21 hours straight? Probably because they are busy doing good, instead of talking about it. ;)
