Part of the problem with taking time away from the blogs is finding your voice again, especially when that voice has changed. The purpose for taking time off was in hopes that the voice would change, but now what? I guess I’ll start from the beginning. George Will was recently on the Colbert Report and he said that political parties serve a purpose of unifying people based on what they hate. That thought stayed with me and as I examined my own reasons for becoming political I realized that they were originally based on hate as well. Hate of those that turn a blind eye to the suffering of others. That underlying emotion tainted my perspective and approach to political change.
Through the actions of others I have been able to see the negative effects of someone who is so committed to a cause, lifestyle choice, world view that they lose their perspective due to hate. So rather than explain the small details I’ll describe the ripple in a larger sense. Background: A man I expected to not get along with based on a neighbor’s opinion proved to be amazingly enlightened, talented, quick and appreciative of the work. The person that gave me the opinion has proved to be no help and a constant drain on my time and resources.
Viewing fellow Americans as the enemy will only cause communities already in distress to fail even further. Having a tainted view of someone you barely know based on one or two aspects you do know is foolish. The clarity of political passions quickly lose their focus when overlaid onto the reality of experience. Fortunately we have the opportunity to gain the reality of experience everyday of our lives. So a word to writers that just write, artists that just paint, musicians that just play, etc…you are cheating yourselves everyday you choose not to experience life. You also run the risk of losing perspective with yourself, your neighbors, and your community in the larger sense.
There are no enemies, there are issues that need to be explained through the perspective of experience. Think Mark Twain, think Woody Guthrie, think George Carlin, think about how you can get involved in a positive way, it’s a great summer to do it.
I missed you all and will be on again when I get another break due to the weather.
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Looks like it comes complete with an image of Jerry Garcia on the side.
Welcome back, nlob.
if you can’t even have a respectful conversation with someone. I have quite a few republican friends. Some I talk politics with and some I don’t.
My hate is for their party not for individuals citizens.
i have been thinking about hate. exactly.
i don’t think hate is the end. it is only one of the means by which those in power can make you feel powerless.
why is hate effective? because, in part i think, it puts responsibility on others for your problems. that’s diminished power then, when it is not you owning your life.
and of course, it is simply a bait and switch. to distract from the real perpetrators of pain… those we vote into office or from whom we purchase diapers and medicine and bank loans.
hope is important. yet politicians frame it in such a way as though they are the bringers and givers of hope. Nope. Not buying it anymore. i think we need to start talking about the power of one. the power of the individual. how one times one million has hard and real impact.
ps… i was looking for a more personal rendering of your time away. okay. i’m nosy. no. that’s not true. i’m curious…………
(^.^)♥~
and has no effect on the hated.
Tell me again, “what’s so funny about peace, love and understanding?”
you and give whoever your spewing venom at a good reason to reject whatever your trying to say. It’s a red hot emotion that just burns. I used to have a religion teacher at the convent who led us in a cheer every morning
What do we HATE, girls?
SIN!
I couldn’t see the point of hating sin, or the sinner. What do we hate? What is sin? The only thing I was told when I asked what is sin was that is was the absence of God. As though life was possible with the absence of the great I am.
The word to artists is appreciated here. Without empathy art runs shallow. As a young artist I fancied myself both apolitical and classless, above the fray only beauty mattered. Now it seems that art itself is political, but only if it is universal and not bogged down with overt messages that spring from blinding hate.