Here are a few elements for your consideration:
- Are we a Christian nation or not? Seems this political question is heard in every election year to split Christians and all others; or church-going and inactives
- Are we for ‘normal’ families or all families? And what makes each so in its own category?
- Rich or poor? In fact, what happened to the middle class in this discussion? Perhaps it is omitted because either side lays claim to the entire middle? Or has the middle disappeared with this economy? Doesn’t this item actually reflect ‘class’ referred to in class warfare?
- Free
market or ….or what? What is the opposite of that? Please don’t tell me
big government managed markets because markets in the
- Educated or not? Which degrees have you earned? Were they enough to fuel your career and happy life for several decades? Or did you go to the college of hard knocks and proudly display the bruises?
- Male versus female? Really? Do we have to dredge up this old canard again?
- Old versus young? This will be an interesting discussion!
- Right or Left? Conservative or Liberal? Right or wrong? Ideologue or principled?
- Republican versus Democrat? This is so old and irrelevant it seems like a joke!
- Intolerant versus accepting
- Gay or straight, or something in between?
- Generous or stingy?
- Optimist or pessimist?
- Independent minded or community focused?
That will do for now. You see what I mean. There is less to
be said about class than culture. I think the latter is the focus of our
disagreeableness. And why is that? Why do we rant about these as though they
make a difference between life and death? They don’t when viewed with
objectivity. Perhaps they make interesting discussion, but the black and white
of most issues dissolve into shades of gray.
Generous or stingy? Come on; we give to others so that our
communal life is better. Along the way some people get what they don’t deserve,
but most importantly, those that do need help get it. And feel better for doing
it; it is what makes us stronger as a society, and it also makes us feel
better. Who loses? Why be stingy? It shuts off the flow of good feelings!
Stingy people tend to shrivel up within themselves. They are lonely,
uninvolved; yes maybe bored. With life and freedom all around you, why be a
prisoner of your own mean mood?
Being of independent mind is an expression of freedom from
within. You can make up your own mind about things. You can think deeply and
broadly about many topics. You are free to associate several topics with one
another and further radiate understanding. There’s nothing wrong about being
independent…unless it become an ideology…something to build walls with for
isolating self from others.
Optimist or pessimist? One is looking for possibilities and
valuing them. The other is guarding against the unknown. Unfortunately, if the
unknown is not explored it becomes the opposite of possibility. Then the
pessimist is caught in the downward spiral to nothingness.
Intolerant or accepting. Seems a no brainer to me. Accepting
opens doors to everyone and everything, the future and possibility all rolled
into one. The opposite is narrow or pinched off. It is uninformed by the mass
of everything that exists in the real world. Rather than living with my head in
the sand, I’d rather hold the head high so it can see, smell and hear all that
is around me. Experience will help me understand what is usable and what is
not. What is good and what is bad comes from testing not gossip.
Culture is how we live and with whom. It is about how we
value things and people and ideas. It is not about who has what and how they
live with it. How crass that is.
Now there’s a concept I can get behind: crass war fare, or
culture?
You decide; I already have.
April 23, 2012
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