I have to admit to why I’m not writing anything. I’m frustrated. I’ve got a serious case of writer’s block. Okay, it’s not necessarily writer’s block. It’s more along the lines of anything on my mind in any given moment of freedom is the frustration that I am mired in hypocrisy. A great majority of it may very well be my own. I have a lot of confusion revolving around the current climate of our struggling economy and the cacophony between partisan extremes in elected officials and media outlets.
I guess the worst part is the perplexity of self identity. See, I consider myself a follower of Jesus. I read my Bible every night. I participate in a Bible Study. I pray to the Creator of the Universe. I have placed wise, God Fearing people in my life to challenge me toward growth and maturity (sure, make your easy joke here). And yet, my views of practicing social justice (which seems to often be confused with socialism for some reason) seem to make an easy justification for shunning me. My understanding of bridging Faith and Reason give rise to challenges of credibility.
I guess what makes me really sad is the lack of honest conversation. These things polarize people to the extent of making it easier to engage in mockery than have a discussion. I am guilty of being the point of extremes from which I stand. And I’m still infuriated by the ignorant statements of individuals who will only submerge in one side of any given issue, however I think I have become more patient with expressing my outrage whenever I hear someone say they will never get on an airplane because it’s too dangerous (yeah, see what I did there?).
I’m used to standing alone in the crowd challenging the “majority”. I’ve been censured, mocked, ridiculed, and (figuratively) spit upon. It’s gotten old and I long for a dialogue – an honest debate. I know it has the potential to become ugly, but I would hope that those who also proclaim the Grace of Christ to practice the same Grace between men. I’m likely to make mistakes, but it’s no reason to turn to passive aggressive behaviours; I’ve learned that many times over (often the hard way).
What am I going to do with this now that I’ve gotten it out of my system? Probably hope that it makes a difference in some people. I’m going to start diving more into understanding the talking points on both sides of the issues, though discerning between hateful rhetoric between extremes and legitimate claims of defense/debate is not for the faint of heart. I hope to pose more public questions here and see if anyone cares. I hope to get a lot of opposition, but not in the hateful manor of slander which will most likely propogate at times. Who knows, maybe we can all change.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Don’t drink and drive.
17 March 2009 at 2:06 pm
the Art of Debating seems to have been lost through the years.
19 March 2009 at 9:22 pm
Steve,
I have no idea if your post is referring to the Wack MC discussions. I will say that I sometimes feel it is hard to engage in honest discussions with you because you become very defensive, curse, and are not very willing, in my opinion, to see the other side, or accept any criticism toward your views, leaders, or party (yes, that was a run-on sentence). I have been very honest in my criticisms of the Republican party and Bush, and have done so pretty respectfully. I can agree to disagree, because I do not think we will ever agree on too much politically. And that is fine with me.
I cannot speak for everyone else that has posted, but I hope you do not view me as someone who will not hear your views without “shunning” you.
Eric
20 March 2009 at 12:51 am
Eric,
Yes. This post has something to do with Wack MC discussions. I realize that in the past I have been more apt to head toward a very defensive stance and less accepting of the criticism of me and my views, which tend to leave me standing alone. I am truly sorry about that past behavior.
I’m not much of one to accept excuses from people and making them leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. As such, I will say that it is very difficult to receive criticism in the form of being mocked, and my over-reacting is usually in response to being the only individual willing to question the validity of the, often, one sided view within that community.
My experience in life has been and continues to be very different from the ‘majority’ of the suburban WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant), and since I don’t side with the expectations of such I find I become a punch line. Stand on that side of the fence for a few rounds…
I have made mistakes. To answer for those mistakes I allowed myself to be censured and removed from having the ability to post. I didn’t cry foul, I didn’t complain to the community. I took time to really think about the way I reacted to the situation. Unfortunately, there were only four people who were able to understand why I would have reacted that way in that forum the way I did.
I may be wrong, but I feel that our last conversation went pretty well in disagreeing with each other and neither of us left feeling belittled. If you did, I am sorry. I am, and will continue to be a work in progress.
So to answer your last statement, I do not view you as someone who will shun me for my views. I really respect your input because you don’t take cheap shots and turn things into a punch line. We will most likely continue to disagree politically, but I’m okay with that if you’re okay with that.