Another Day - and thoughts on politics and the human condition

After a few overcast and dreary days, today dawn brings us blue skies and a sun that is noticeably moving through it's cycle back towards the north.  A few weeks ago, the sun was coming up in that gap further to the right, a couple of houses down the street.

Politics has been much on my mind of late. 

When I was a child, my elders would talk about the world going to hell in a hand basket (or sometimes cart, depending on who was speaking).  So it seems this premonition of impending doom I have been feeling is nothing new.  It does seem to have worsened over the past few years - or maybe it always was this bad and I'm only just now noticing.

Journalists were supposed to be the eyes and ears of the world, although that romantic notion ignores the roots of 'yellow journalism'.  Seems people always need something to be enraged about and a certain subset of journalism is more than happy to provide it.  I only have to glance at the racks of magazines at the check out tills at stores to see it - oh the horror!  This person was mean to that person!  This person is nasty!  That person is (gasp!) fat!  (Usually a woman.  Men seem somehow immune to comments on their degree of 'fatness'.)

I'm old enough to remember Disney's Bambi and Thumper's mom saying that if you can't say something kind, don't say anything at all.

I remember Sunday School and that Jesus loved the little children of the world, didn't matter their colour.  I remember 'turn the other cheek'.  I remember 'feed the hungry, heal the sick'.  These were all tenets of the branch of christianity I was raised in.

It seems a certain slice of society, not just here but everywhere, is bent on grabbing as much 'pie' as they can for themselves while denying any to others.  Especially others who are a different religion, colour, sexual orientation.  They pound the bible and I wonder which bible they are referencing because in my bible, there was nothing about LGBTQ+ folk going straight to hell.  Any negative mentions were in the old testament, not the new, which as far as I am concerned supersedes the old where they diverge, philosophically.

Jesus gave us the example of caring for others, from washing the feet of other people, feeding the hordes who had no food, healing the sick.  He did not ask if they 'deserved' any of those things.  He saw their humanity and loved them through his actions.

And that was the biggest lesson I learned as a child - go ahead and pray, but sometimes the answer is 'no'.  Go ahead and pray, but not for god to magically answer your prayer with what you were asking for, but pray for the strength to do what is necessary.  Because in our house god helped those who helped themselves.

Late last night after thinking about many of these things I posted a long comment on Facebook.  I was tired and there was so much I wanted to say and yet...how to say it?  One of the things I learned in school was the power of emotional trigger words and I wanted to very carefully discuss some of the issues I was seeing in action without triggering instant anger in those who would disagree with me.  There is no point in trying to discuss things if people who need to hear the message cut you off without even considering what you have to say.

Shortly after posting it, someone posted a meme about planting seeds.  That you never know which seeds will take root and grow.  But that doesn't mean you shouldn't go ahead and plant them.

I took some comfort from that thought.

It is kind of how I feel about all the 'rants' I post here (and elsewhere) about weaving principles.  Not everyone will hear my message.  Not everyone will agree with me.  Not everyone will change their minds.  But I am not trying to reach those who already have their minds made up.  I'm trying to reach those who do not yet have an opinion.  And I don't insist that they do things my way, just that they think about what they are doing and maybe change their approach if what they are doing isn't working for them.

While I was raised christian, I no longer go to church.  But I cannot remove the basic principles I was taught in Sunday school, especially since those core tenets are central to pretty much all the major religions of the world (except some which seem to think some people are more deserving than others.)

If you are white in North America (and elsewhere), you have benefited from colonialism and - whether you recognize it or not - a level of privilege.   When people stand up to say they are being racially profiled or discriminated against, you cannot say they were not simply because you have never been.  In fact you have been racially profiled to your benefit.

If you do not understand how a reality bubble works, you can begin by reading Ziya Tong's new book The Reality Bubble.  It will be uncomfortable.  Read it anyway.

Here are some examples of a reality bubble.  "I cannot see the curvature of the earth so it is flat."  or  "I don't know anyone who has even had polio, so I'm not going to get my children vaccinated because vaccines aren't necessary."  "I am a man who has never raped a women, so all those women are liars when they say they were raped."  There are ways to see beyond your bubble of reality to the larger truth.  But you have to know that the bubble exists in order to see beyond it.

Your reality is not someone else's life experience.  Therefore to understand what other people are experiencing, you have to set aside your lived experience in order to understand theirs.

I think that because I read voraciously, indiscriminately, my life experience became more than my own.  I am willing to listen and hear of other lives and accept that they are living their truth.  Sometimes their truth makes me uncomfortable, but that is my burden to bear, not theirs. 

Toni Morrison's quote comes to mind frequently - do the best you can and when you know better, do better (I paraphrase).