Kind of a weird philosophical post today. (and half my readers just ran for the hills - rightly so - don’t worry I’ll get back to my usual slightly acerbic self shortly so both of you will be ok.)
I think one of the things that happens to us as we get older is that more and more of who we are seems to be constructed of something hard, like girders and bricks or something, inside of us that can’t change. When we’re younger it’s more flimsy. The wind blows one way we bend that way. When we’re older when the wind blows the ‘wrong’ way it’s just irritating.
A while ago, and I don’t know what drove it, I decided I didn’t really care about other people’s religious or political views. I don’t care about their race, sexual preference or proclivity. I don’t care if they’re tall and thin or short and fat. (or tall and fat for that matter - short and thin is just creepy (-: ). I really only care about one thing. My internal barometer’s view of whether they’re authentically who they say they are. People who are comfortable in their skin are people I like to be with. People who are super insecure and people who are always trying to prove they’re somehow better tire me.
This doesn’t make me a great person. Frankly, it’s an indication of how seriously flawed I really am. I have my own views, my own political perspective, my own religious affiliations, etc. I just don’t know that I’m right about anything and I guess the older I get the more I wonder about people who do know they’re right. (this may freak out my pastor but honestly I think that’s a good thing every once in a while and it won’t be that big of a shock to him!). I think sometimes people get so wrapped up in being right and trying to convince everyone else of their rightness that they forget the point. I think that’s ironic.
This doesn’t mean that I’m some wishy washy soul who doesn’t have a view. It means that I don’t care whether your view and mine are in alignment. I’d prefer you didn’t either. No matter how much you may belittle my view, insult people I admire, praise people I may or may not, espouse a social change program, etc., you’re unlikely to change the way I think. You’re just the wind blowing in the wrong direction. The harder you blow the more likely I am to decide you’re no longer worth my time. Harsh? Maybe. True? Absolutely.
I don’t think I’m a minority either. Even though this more or less centrist view is rarely heard, I actually think there are a lot of folks like me. These are people who tend to walk away when the shouting starts. They tend to judge the judge as harshly as the judged. I often wonder what makes people so great that they seem to believe they have a right to make others feel small. Perhaps some are that great. I dunno, the greatest people I’ve ever met don’t think of themselves as all that great. They are the opposite of today’s social stars. They are rarely famous for having sought fame. They are famous for what they’ve accomplished. Perhaps we should get back to that.
Onward.
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