We’ve had some ruffled feathers on the MB over the last few days. And we’ve had some posters who have delighted in continually posting items that are guaranteed to tick off other members. This is my home and my rules. So allow me to babble for a while here about some things I’ve been thinking lately.
I’ve already posted one of my favorite quotes on the MB, but for the sake of continuity, here it is again:
"You've seen what goodness does. It breeds intolerance, rigidity, the belief that because I'm right those who don't believe exactly as I do are wrong and must change. We don't need good. We need balance." - Said by one of the characters in a book by L. E. Modesitt.
The reason that’s one of my favorite quotes is because I think it gets to the root of a lot of the problems I see around me. So many people, and I am including myself in that number, think there is “my opinion and the wrong one.” And then people think that if they only shout loud enough and long enough it will convert everyone else over to the right opinion. Or people think that if they use whatever power they possess in their power structure then they can make everyone else think their RightThink.
I realize that people are passionate about what they think is wrong in this country, or about their religion or their sexual preference or their ____ (fill in the blank). This country was founded on the idea that maybe there wasn’t ONE right idea so maybe everyone should be able to think what they wanted as long as their thinking didn’t harm anyone else.
Even before this country WAS a country, it was settled partly by people searching for a place where they could get away from the GroupThink. Some of my family came here in 1620 for that very reason and I listen to big family speeches about it each Thanksgiving. And yet I also listen to my family (whom I love dearly, don’t get me wrong) become incensed at people who won’t think just exactly like they do about subjects of religion and politics. And I think maybe they’ve forgotten why that ship landed at Plymouth Harbor.
I love the fact that Utah allowed women the right to vote so early in our country’s history, but am frustrated that my voting as a blue dog Democrat in this state makes me a flaming Liberal here.
I’m getting ready for a big family reunion that will take place over the July 4th holiday. My family will gather and they will consist of Scandinavians and Germans and Navajos and blacks and Latinos, and Catholics and Mormons and Buddhists and pagans and atheists, and members of Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and members of Southern Utah Land Users, and Republicans and at least one Democrat. And at some point in the reunion, one of those differences is going to result in a flaming “knock down drag out” fight. I wish I could figure out how to help achieve less right and more balance.
I wish I had some brilliant piece of rhetoric to close this with before I climb down off my soapbox but I don’t. I just hope I’ve made some sense.
Any suggestions?
[FONT="]Lady[/FONT]
Come back this time round in tiptop shape, ok?