Show #291

Hello Friends of the Garden!

Whenever I write this I always start with no idea at all, none! It’s usually affected by what I woke up thinking about or heard on the radio or saw on the news. Sometimes it can be influenced by what may have happened to me in the course of the week. I often remind myself that the real joy is searching to understand myself better and not for any kind of recognition or praise. I’ve always had many more questions than answers, so there are a multitude of things that tumble around in my mind.

There are so many things happening in this world and the supply of topics for explorations are innumerable! I love talking with friends, acquaintances, and strangers. It is interesting to me to hear what people think about almost anything. Most of the time I’m shocked at the level of ambivalence that pervades our society. My guess is that people don’t have the time to understand things that do not directly affect them. They form their opinions from a very limited set of sources.

I get it! I really do! We live in a very busy world. We live in a time that has more distractions than ever before. It feels like it’s easy to see, hear or understand the “what” with all the different avenues that we have to keep us abreast of the latest news. I don’t feel like we spend a proportionate amount of time understanding the “why”! “What” is easy, the “why” is much more intricate and far more illusive and almost always based in personal bias; I include myself in this description of the acquisition of “why”.

I have had a lifelong connection with my quest for “why”. My personal observation of my need to know the “why” has led me to being a study of the human condition. I have had the experience of living in several places in this country. I have had the luxury of traveling outside our country and making long time friends in some of those places. My lifelong collection of information has not been relegated to one specific location. I try to be aware of what people say, what they do and the conviction in their voice and action. I like to aggregate these inputs to form an understanding for myself.

I often have discussions with myself, in my own mind, to explore the things I don’t understand. The result has been a somewhat irritating propensity to being a “Devil’s Advocate”. I try my hardest to set aside “why” I believe the things I do and put myself in the place of others that do not agree with me. My thought is that I will have a place to begin my quest for “why”. For me the result has typically been that the answers are a lot cloudier than people wish to admit. It is far easier to simply say I’m right, you’re wrong and why don’t you get it!

Education has tried to address the skill of advocacy through formal debate classes. Lawyers are probably the best example of unbiased allegiance through advocacy. Lawyers jealously represent their clients regardless of their own opinions and attitudes (or they’re supposed to). Unfortunately, advocacy as it appears to exist in our present culture lacks empathy or sympathy (see last week’s blog). Even worse, the prevalence of the unwillingness to seek “why” people say and do what they do falls equally on all sides!

The complexities of our modern world have made the ability to relate to those people with polar opposite attitudes even more difficult. We all know “they” are wrong; we just aren’t willing to see any credence to an opposing position. When we speak of being “color blind” in a culture we are often talking about race. I propose that we are “color blind” to colors other than black and white. Gray is not a color that is readily recognized or even acceptable! Black and white only discriminates between groups of thought and practice. Gray is the unacceptable color of true application and compromise.

Black and white is soothing! Right and wrong are comfortable ways to presume superiority. No more thought, introspection or research is necessary with black and white. All men are gropers. All Muslims are terrorists. All (insert your chosen race here) are lazy. All guns and gun owners are dangerous. All rich people want you to remain poor. All poor people want something for nothing. All homeless people have criminal intent. All (insert your chosen race or gender here) are terrible drivers. Really?

I’m learning to embrace and enjoy “gray”! There’s a lot more “gray” in our world than “black and white”. Acknowledging gray almost feels like getting “partial credit” for an incomplete answer! I have thought to myself many times, “Huh, so one half of this country really believes the other half are idiots that are completely ignorant?” It can’t be that simple! It’s clear that we aren’t spending enough time looking at each other’s “why”! It actually hurts my heart for me to embrace the idea that my political persuasion requires me to dismiss half of our country as self-serving, unintelligent and ill intentioned!

I have had some discussions (sometimes arguments) with people about political ideology. I love to get to the point in the discussion that I propose the question, “So, would our country be better off if all (Democrats or Republicans) didn’t exist at all?” The most stalwart of people stumble at the impossibility of promoting such an extreme position. The wheels come of the cart at that point! Japanese internment, McCarthyism, and slavery (sorry Roy!) are just the prominent examples of absolutism when we got it wrong!

I always end my radio show with a plea for harmony. Oddly enough, harmony does not come from everyone sounding the same! Real harmony comes from a blend of voices that create a rich, beautiful full sound that complement each other! If I were to create a “flag” to represent my radio show it would be a giant peace sign on top of radiant lines coming from the center to the edge……………..all in shades of GRAY! Get used to it everyone!

Peace and love to you all! Even if we disagree!

Mike