I was going to post last night, but I got caught up holding Harper and watching Law and Order reruns. I can't think of a better way to finish out the weekend.
I find one of the largest problems with Americans is our inability to deal with ambiguity of any kind. We love a hero and a villain, good and evil, right and wrong.
Perhaps we do this because it is easier than digging deeper into an issue and seeing the varying shades of grey. Hey, I know, we all do it-I hear a particularly repugnant story on the radio, and I automatically think, "man, Republicans are total idiots." But my parents often vote Republican, and they aren't idiots and I actually value their opinion. The knee-jerk, all-damning condemnation just seems to come pouring out when we are emotionally involved in something, and avoiding it often takes a calm head and time for reflection-which clearly involves more discipline that just making rash generalizations.
We Americans love to hastily place blame in any situation, we crave justice-this is one I completely understand and find myself guilty of quite often. The person who robs somebody is an evil person and should be in jail-case closed. And, no doubt, if you break the law you should be punished-but instead of followinf this clearly useless cycle of crime and punishment, why don't we find the causes of crime, and change them- which obviously is not an easy task. But if the good/evil sentencing structure we've been using for 200+ years is just leading to more and more people in jail, perhaps we could maybe, kinda', sorta' think about trying to find a better system?
In Eric Weiner's excellent book "The Geography of Bliss", he interviews the head of the Pagan church in Iceland. When Weiner asks the pagan if he really believes in trolls and fairies he says something along the lines of: well, not exactly, but a lot of people do and they take comfort from that-so who am I to decide?(sorry about the bad paraphrase, but the book went back to the library). Do you realize how crazy that is? That's like the Pope saying he doesn't really believe in Jesus, but, hey, its cool if some folks do. I think there is a lot that can be learned from this way of thinking, of embracing the beauty, or at least the possibility, of ambiguity.
I understand our need for black and white judgements-they offer us a quick dose of comfort and allow us to place things in easily defined categories. Surely there is a biological link to this as well-we learned millennia ago to fear what we don't recognize as familiar or understand, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But at some point mankind reached a new level, when we began to see the ambiguity inherent in life-I mean, not all mushrooms are poisonous, and someone figured this out.
It's time our nation and our own ways of thinking evolve. You never know, we may just discover a truffle in all that mud.
Or, maybe we'll find a Death Angel, you never know.
How's that for some awesome ambiguosity!
Tim G Rules!
3 comments:
I think it's just about primitive mindsets and the more evolved we become as humans, the more intelligent we become (current presidency not included) and the less hasty to judge in terms of black and white.
I saw an amazing documentary last night on a young boy from Uganda who was born with a rare craniofacial deformity that caused his head to be misshapen and his eyes to bulge out. His teachers (adults mind you) kicked him out of school because they said he'd "been marked by the devil." Other children his age were allowed to throw rocks at him and abuse him verbally and physically because of his condition.
The happy ending was that a social worker saw him, got him to the states for free life saving skull surgery and now he's a completely different kid who now has confidence in himself and go wants come back to the states and make a career. Although his village now accepts him, he knows it's only because of the attention he's received and because he now looks like a normal kid.
I'm not trying to pat the U.S. on the back so much as to say to point out that some cultures take decades to evolve, some centuries and I think some never evolve.
On a more important topic, drop me a line and let me know how Harper's poops and pees are. They was hit and miss last time I spoke with the Lady Wadsworth. Love you all and so glad to be reading your writings again. You're really good. Keep it up.
xo
B
Thanks Brooks!
The pees and poops are becoming more and more regular.
Also, that 8 pound baby can pass gas like a 230 pound redneck drinking PBR.
No.
Seriously.
Hope to see you guys soon!
tim g
TG.
I am reminded of a therapist I once was seeing. He specialized in counseling transgendered persons. I figured he would be gay or a cross-dresser himelf, but was surprised, upon meeting him to see a totally run of the mill new age type guy. I asked him how he came to specialize in transgendered therapy. He said, "One transgendered person came to see me and had some success. Then that person [I hesitate to use a pronoun here] told others and before you knew it I was an 'expert' in the field. I also specialize in helping people escape the curses put upon them by black magic." I asked him if he believed in black magic and he said, "It doesn't really matter if I believe in it. That is what is happening in their reality and if I want to help them, I have to do it from their reality."
I thought that was brilliant.
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