It would not be untypical of me to go overboard with ideas and actions! It is a trait that has served me well for most of my life as it infuses all I do with contagious enthusiasm and has, on many occasions, helped those who find it hard to muster such energy for themselves! On the other hand . . . and this is the core of what I mean to share today . . . on the other hand, there are two sides to every argument! Perhaps even more than two sides!
Just recently I witnessed a car hit a bicyclist at a red light. I was the one who called 911 and I was the only driver who apparently, from three lanes of traffic lined up waiting for the light to change, actually saw what happened. In my enthusiasm for the truth I told the policeman that the light had turned green when the offending car began to move into it's right turn. This claim seemed to put the driver in the right and the bicyclist in the wrong. After giving my statement and contact information I drove off. Immediately I began to question myself to the point that by the time I got home I was unable to clearly state the same position. To be honest, I was not really sure if the light was red or green at that moment and hope that I do not have to support my original claim!
This serves to illustrate the truism stated above. I have been extremely excited about the possibility of a new kind of leadership for our country and have posted what appears, in retrospect, to be clear endorsements of my favorite. Although my perspective has remained value based (with love and forgiveness at the heart) I have begun to see that I may be more narrow in my judgements than I believe myself to be and hence run the danger of being the kind of hypocrite that I rail against inside!
I read a well reasoned article the other day that laid out very concisely why direct negotiations between leaders of enemy powers have not always brought the intended results. Not that I don't still believe direct negotiation to be the ideal, in any circumstance of life, it's just that I have been opened to the possibility that, at least historically, it's rate of success is suspect. Hence I am now able to understand why others may oppose such an approach as primary.
I have always been a renegade, maverick and a rebel. Strange really, because I have spent the bulk of my life's energies defining my identity. The problem is, it is always changing! These days that's disdainfully called flip-flopping. I don't see what is so wrong with that. The issues behind my 'identity defining' relate to the peculiar gift of being able to see every ones point of view. It's not because I am so magnanimous, it is for me almost unavoidable. Give me a good explanation and I'll see it your way. If someone else comes along with a passionate argument for the opposite I can see that too. Consequently some feel that I am high on the empathy scale and low on convictions! One of my favorite snippets of the bible is Paul's claim that 'all things are lawful, but not all things are expedient'. And I get that! I am definitely not black or white, I'm not even grey. I am more like a chess board - every other square!! I think I get the rebel from my mum and the chess board from my dad! Of course, they might think I get it all from my own messy brain!
My daughter delights in the personal idiosyncrasies that we share. Not that these were taught - they just are. Like the fact that we both figuratively masticate our paper napkins, rendering them into ripped, stained and wrinkled strings with our constant finger wiping before our table mates have hardly picked theirs up! You can't teach that! It's part of our DNA. So it is with my mum. She was raised as a Peculiar Person. Peculiar is one of those words that has meanings on 'both sides of the coin'. It can be both usual, and unusual - depending on the context. For example it would be peculiar (unusual, unexpected) to see kangaroos outside of a zoo in England. On the flip side kangaroos are peculiar to Australia (usual, expected). That's what I am too - I'm a peculiar person, and it's in my genes! It was the name of the church that my mum was raised in and that name intimates a specialness and perhaps the individuality of its members.
For me I am peculiar because I am one of a kind. And so are you! We are peculiar because we are both individual and special. Every last one of us on the face of the earth! That we are different is something that the world must come to terms with in order to move forward into becoming a global family. Acceptance is not adoption, that we are all treated equally is the only demand. We must continue to give people the opportunity to see life from a different perspective and the way forward is to remain authentic and connected and grounded spiritually so that we can live out our own truth with liberty and allow others the same opportunity!
My poem on the side bar illustrates this notion quite well. Do you see what I see? Unlikely. Can you see what I see? Possibly. Will you (choose to) see what I see? That remains to be seen!
Seeing things from other points of view is paramount to the creation of a global community. It is not necessary for us to give up our own leanings and convictions about how we should live our own lives for the sake of unity, it is only necessary for us to accept the fact that differences exist and not only exist but are both right. This is a hard one for most of us! That capitalism and communism are at once both right and wrong depends entirely on your perspective.
My mum earned her rebel stripes at church meetings! We were a part of a conservative, nonconformist protestant church and, as is often typical with microcosms of the greater society, there were those who usually led and those that usually followed. Sheep and shepherds. When controversial issues arose, especially issues that ran counter to my mums more liberal world view, she would be the brave one to get up and challenge the erstwhile authority with a question. She rarely argued a point, rather choosing to couch her opposition in the form of one of those questions that forces people to think again. Very smart of her that was, for she was not branded as either a rebel or a renegade because she maintained respect but still forced the issue! Today we would call that 'brilliant'. Why she never rose to be Prime Minister I will never know. It was probably because she needed to focus her attentions on the little rebel that was growing up in her household - one that once would have been less likely to be so kind to those whose actions and beliefs were narrow and outdated (to put it nicely)!
My dad, on the other hand, was a deacon of the church and was held by all in high regard as a man of kindness, gentleness and above all fairness. Out of respect for dear old dad my mum must have bit her tongue a thousand times! Dad was the observer of the meetings who, near the conclusion of contentious or varied discussion, was able to summarize what had been said around the table in an empathetic way and then put it all together into a statement or resolution that the majority was usually able to buy into. The ultimate peace maker and consensus taker. So, hey, I didn't stand a chance! The funny thing is my brother has turned out the same way. He is a keen observer of life and a fair critic of inequities. Although his personal views are very real to him he has developed a unmitigated tolerance for those that believe otherwise, as long as they do so with impunity! Watch out hypocrites - for then the wrath will come, sarcasm and all!
It is with a more humble attitude that I approach today. Not that I do not wish for change, not that I will not still hope for ignorance to cease. But I will remember that there are reasons why folk don't always see things my way and I will go forward, undaunted, to continue to spread my peculiar message of hope that comes from the acceptance of diversity!
Just recently I witnessed a car hit a bicyclist at a red light. I was the one who called 911 and I was the only driver who apparently, from three lanes of traffic lined up waiting for the light to change, actually saw what happened. In my enthusiasm for the truth I told the policeman that the light had turned green when the offending car began to move into it's right turn. This claim seemed to put the driver in the right and the bicyclist in the wrong. After giving my statement and contact information I drove off. Immediately I began to question myself to the point that by the time I got home I was unable to clearly state the same position. To be honest, I was not really sure if the light was red or green at that moment and hope that I do not have to support my original claim!
This serves to illustrate the truism stated above. I have been extremely excited about the possibility of a new kind of leadership for our country and have posted what appears, in retrospect, to be clear endorsements of my favorite. Although my perspective has remained value based (with love and forgiveness at the heart) I have begun to see that I may be more narrow in my judgements than I believe myself to be and hence run the danger of being the kind of hypocrite that I rail against inside!
I read a well reasoned article the other day that laid out very concisely why direct negotiations between leaders of enemy powers have not always brought the intended results. Not that I don't still believe direct negotiation to be the ideal, in any circumstance of life, it's just that I have been opened to the possibility that, at least historically, it's rate of success is suspect. Hence I am now able to understand why others may oppose such an approach as primary.
I have always been a renegade, maverick and a rebel. Strange really, because I have spent the bulk of my life's energies defining my identity. The problem is, it is always changing! These days that's disdainfully called flip-flopping. I don't see what is so wrong with that. The issues behind my 'identity defining' relate to the peculiar gift of being able to see every ones point of view. It's not because I am so magnanimous, it is for me almost unavoidable. Give me a good explanation and I'll see it your way. If someone else comes along with a passionate argument for the opposite I can see that too. Consequently some feel that I am high on the empathy scale and low on convictions! One of my favorite snippets of the bible is Paul's claim that 'all things are lawful, but not all things are expedient'. And I get that! I am definitely not black or white, I'm not even grey. I am more like a chess board - every other square!! I think I get the rebel from my mum and the chess board from my dad! Of course, they might think I get it all from my own messy brain!
My daughter delights in the personal idiosyncrasies that we share. Not that these were taught - they just are. Like the fact that we both figuratively masticate our paper napkins, rendering them into ripped, stained and wrinkled strings with our constant finger wiping before our table mates have hardly picked theirs up! You can't teach that! It's part of our DNA. So it is with my mum. She was raised as a Peculiar Person. Peculiar is one of those words that has meanings on 'both sides of the coin'. It can be both usual, and unusual - depending on the context. For example it would be peculiar (unusual, unexpected) to see kangaroos outside of a zoo in England. On the flip side kangaroos are peculiar to Australia (usual, expected). That's what I am too - I'm a peculiar person, and it's in my genes! It was the name of the church that my mum was raised in and that name intimates a specialness and perhaps the individuality of its members.
For me I am peculiar because I am one of a kind. And so are you! We are peculiar because we are both individual and special. Every last one of us on the face of the earth! That we are different is something that the world must come to terms with in order to move forward into becoming a global family. Acceptance is not adoption, that we are all treated equally is the only demand. We must continue to give people the opportunity to see life from a different perspective and the way forward is to remain authentic and connected and grounded spiritually so that we can live out our own truth with liberty and allow others the same opportunity!
My poem on the side bar illustrates this notion quite well. Do you see what I see? Unlikely. Can you see what I see? Possibly. Will you (choose to) see what I see? That remains to be seen!
Seeing things from other points of view is paramount to the creation of a global community. It is not necessary for us to give up our own leanings and convictions about how we should live our own lives for the sake of unity, it is only necessary for us to accept the fact that differences exist and not only exist but are both right. This is a hard one for most of us! That capitalism and communism are at once both right and wrong depends entirely on your perspective.
My mum earned her rebel stripes at church meetings! We were a part of a conservative, nonconformist protestant church and, as is often typical with microcosms of the greater society, there were those who usually led and those that usually followed. Sheep and shepherds. When controversial issues arose, especially issues that ran counter to my mums more liberal world view, she would be the brave one to get up and challenge the erstwhile authority with a question. She rarely argued a point, rather choosing to couch her opposition in the form of one of those questions that forces people to think again. Very smart of her that was, for she was not branded as either a rebel or a renegade because she maintained respect but still forced the issue! Today we would call that 'brilliant'. Why she never rose to be Prime Minister I will never know. It was probably because she needed to focus her attentions on the little rebel that was growing up in her household - one that once would have been less likely to be so kind to those whose actions and beliefs were narrow and outdated (to put it nicely)!
My dad, on the other hand, was a deacon of the church and was held by all in high regard as a man of kindness, gentleness and above all fairness. Out of respect for dear old dad my mum must have bit her tongue a thousand times! Dad was the observer of the meetings who, near the conclusion of contentious or varied discussion, was able to summarize what had been said around the table in an empathetic way and then put it all together into a statement or resolution that the majority was usually able to buy into. The ultimate peace maker and consensus taker. So, hey, I didn't stand a chance! The funny thing is my brother has turned out the same way. He is a keen observer of life and a fair critic of inequities. Although his personal views are very real to him he has developed a unmitigated tolerance for those that believe otherwise, as long as they do so with impunity! Watch out hypocrites - for then the wrath will come, sarcasm and all!
It is with a more humble attitude that I approach today. Not that I do not wish for change, not that I will not still hope for ignorance to cease. But I will remember that there are reasons why folk don't always see things my way and I will go forward, undaunted, to continue to spread my peculiar message of hope that comes from the acceptance of diversity!
1 comment:
i SEE your point!
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