There are some people who believe that the opposite of love is hate. I used to believe this, too. I used to believe that thinking about someone, hating them, and wishing they would change somehow, is just desserts for being somehow, awful. My anger then, was an inability to accept the other person as they truly are. My hate was an obsession, and obsession is just another fancy term for addiction. Hate is an addiction.
I have had people tell me to my face that they hate me. I know what that feels like, but looking back, I now see…
The purpose of attaining and asserting dominance in any realm, is to avoid accountability.
In the past month, I read a few very interesting articles on what appears to be an aristocracy in America. First, there is “The 9.9 Percent Is the New American Aristocracy”, a long, thorough accounting of how a wealthy aristocracy came to be in modern-day America. An aristocracy that is thriving today.
Then there is this article, “Land of the Lawless: How power in America has turned the rule of law into a mere myth”, by Ralph Nader, a man who ran for president a few times, and who has detailed numerous examples of corruption in America. …
How an open mind can clear the way for gratitude.
I just finished watching the HBO documentary, “The Bee Gees — How Can You Mend A Broken Heart”. I enjoyed the entire documentary. I especially liked learning that their falsetto singing style was improvised and adopted later in their career in pursuit of a new sound. I also learned that the Bee Gees wrote many songs for other artists, too.
I took note of the following statement in the beginning by Barry Gibb, the last remaining brother:
“I am beginning to recognize the fact that Nothing is true. Nothing. It all comes down to perception.”
I was surprised that someone…
The cause is often our lack of awareness, skills, or capacity.
As a general rule, I don’t take aspirin or Tylenol unless the pain is severe. I want to know exactly what’s going on in my body. I accept the pain that I feel as an indicator of what I need to do next. Numbing the pain reduces my awareness of my condition. I only use pain killer as a last resort to minimize the disruptions to my awareness of my condition. I think of pain as sort of a compass, guiding me through life.
This idea that pain is the signal, not the cause, is something that I learned a…
The best we can do is encourage the unvaccinated to get vaccinated.
I have observed the way people deride those who will not get vaccinated. It’s plain to see the insults, the veiled threats, and the not-so-secret death wishes. Pointing out the conservative radio hosts who have died from covid just to say, “I told you so” is probably not the most productive use of our time and energy. In the debate over vaccines, there is fear on both sides and not much compassion.
My brother won’t get vaccinated. He’s totally convinced that he understands the science and that he’s right not to get vaccinated. He believes he has a right not…
Underestimate your skills. Err on the side of peace.
I’ve been driving since I was 16. When the opportunity to get a learner’s permit came up, I got it. When I found that I might have enough money to buy a car, I found a way to buy one. For almost all of my adult life, I’ve had access to personal transportation.
During that time, I’ve never been involved in a fatal accident, or even a life-changing accident with serious injuries. …
Trump did not anticipate the possibility of election fraud and did nothing about it until after the election. Why not?
There is something sorely lacking amid all of Trump’s claims of election fraud. First, no solution is offered by the offended party. Second, the aggrieved has unclean hands. This is particularly true of Trump.
Consider that Trump has been aware of how politics works since he was a young man. He was aware that he could buy favors from both sides. He was made aware of how elections work from his first victory. He certainly had access to all of the information he would have needed to know about elections from the day he set foot in the White House.
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Most of us are doing the best we can. If we could do better, we would.
Every day in our encounters with other people, there is a chance we could be slighted, offended, or even hurt. We may even find ourselves in the weeds.
Our spouse intentionally does not look at us, smile, and say “good morning” when we rise together. On the way to work, another driver cuts in front of you just as the light turns yellow then red and you have to stop. Your takeout order did not include what you expected and you’re running too late to correct it. A man and his entire family cut in the line in front of…
Unassailable power is an undesirable outcome for any party.
Since Joe Biden took office, there has been a constant barrage of talk about “bipartisanship”. Progressives clamor for the end of the filibuster. Every weekday morning, the moderates and conservatives sit in a circle in the Capitol rotunda, chanting “save the rentier class”. It’s almost as if the tension is intentional.
The fight over who will hold power and how much has always been a feature of our democracy. But what I find so interesting about Republican calls for bipartisanship at the federal level is what is happening at the state level, and it ain’t bipartisanship. At the state level…
The second question in the California recall election was left blank or had write-ins by enough voters to almost tie with Larry Elder.
Unofficial results indicate that Gavin Newsom easily won the recall vote on Tuesday with 63% of Californians voting NO on the question of whether or not he should be removed from office. Larry Elder won 47% of the vote for the second question. But a difficult-to-find statistic was the number of votes left blank or written in by voters.
According to Cal Matters, 63% of the voters said no to the first question of recall, and that 47% of the votes for an alternative candidate were for Larry Elder. …
