I don’t know about you, but I’m just about done with the political world. It seems that for the last several months we’ve been barraged with ads for this candidate or that one; this party or that other one.
And, they ALL LIE!
They lie about each other’s stance on the economy, immigration, election monitoring, redistricting, blah, blah, blah.
WILL IT NEVER END!!!!
AARRGGGHHH!!!!
Whew! Ok. I’m back.
People want to be heard. Yeah, I get it. Me too.
So, they take to social media to find like-minded folks to reinforce their own ideas and opinions until they think theirs is the only opinion worth considering. We call that being in a ‘silo’ or an ‘echo chamber.’ You only really hear the sound of your own voice reverberating all around you.
This is endemic to any and all political ideals. I don’t care if you call yourself conservative or liberal; Republican or Democrat. People want to be heard. More than that, they want to feel that they are RIGHT. So, as I spend all my time in the silo of my choice, my opinion is heard and amplified by all of the voices that sound just like mine.
That’s a problem.
When we become so entrenched in our “Side” we forget that there are other “Sides” out there. We forget that ours is NOT the only voice. In fact, there are more voices in the world than we can possibly imagine. Society, and surely not politics, is a black/white; either/or proposition. Like everything in life there are myriad voices and ideas out there. We can never, ever assume our own superiority in the field of ideas.
That requires something that is hard to find. Especially, in our special brand of Western culture in the U.S.
That something is Humility.
Yep. There, I said the “H” word
Humility.
Before you all have a conniption, let me explain just a wee bit.
First, humility is not allowing anyone to walk all over you. You are not being humble when you consider yourself a worm. That’s something that might require some counselling to help out.
Neither is humility remaining silent while everyone else talks over you. No, your opinion is important and necessary in any conversations we have about our World.
Humility in this case is simply listening.
Not listening like, “Yeah, I here a noise.” But, listening with the intention to really Hear what each other has to say. Nor, is it simply listening while forming a rebuttal to whatever the other person is saying.
We all want someone to:
PLEASE HEAR ME!!!
All of us want that.
When I think about the divide that the media seems to want to describe, I think not in terms of Right/Left; Conservative/Liberal.
Hell, I don’t even know what those terms truly mean.
I think rather of Conservatives as people who don’t want to be pushed. I can visualize them as rank upon rank of people marching slowly toward some unknown, yet desired, future. They are working hard in their lives to keep things from moving too fast. Fast and Change are not good words for them. Yet, change will come. Eventually. Hopefully, on our terms.
On the other hand, I find Liberal to also be a misnomer. These are folks who are like a river flowing to that still unknown, yet desired future. They meander and rush over rapids and over falls. They pick up a lot of stuff along the way and carry it with them. They don’t always see beyond the next bend. But, ‘Hell, Yeah!’ we’re going there!
Both want to move forward.
Both want to be seen and heard.
Both want peace.
I’m writing all of this for the simple reason that for me this is therapeutic. I need to get these thoughts out of my head so my head doesn’t explode. No one wants that. It would be a hell of a mess to clean up.
Plus, I don’t think that I’m alone in these thoughts.
Feel free to comment with your own ideas.
After all, your thoughts are important for all of us.
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