Getting it Straight

Making a family. Making a living. Making a career, or several. Making out(!) Making friends. Making home. A lot of ‘making’. Effort to do activity and decisions and thoughts. Allowing all to jumble together so a life takes form over a generation of struggle. Each moment of effort is fine as rewards are noticed and accumulate. It is worthwhile our effort. Our struggle. Much has been accomplished. Much more will as well if we keep our mind on it and positive.

The opposite is true, too, isn't it? There seems to always be people in our midst who are negative, distrusting and spoilers. They think and say the opposing view, sometimes I think just to be disagreeable!  And I bet I’m more right with that hunch than not!

At any rate, here’s a quote that sums up the previous thought:

            “No one notices your tears,

             No one notices your sadness,

             No one notices your pains,

             But they all notice your mistakes.”

                        ~Anonymous

I don’t really believe in the ‘no one’ part. We each have enough friends who do notice the tears, sadness and pains. They notice the mistakes as well but are too fond of us to mention it. The others, however, speak of these things behind our backs and sometimes to our face. They are the contrary people who spend their time critiquing others while offering no new ideas of their own. They feed off their sense of superiority. They need others to feel good about themselves, all the while making no headway in their own accomplishments.

As Diane Grant advises us:

            “It’s better to walk alone than with a crowd going in the wrong direction.”

Kabam! Right on the nose!

It is not easy walking alone but it provides ‘space’ to think and perfect ideas. Later these thoughts will be more sharable to a broader audience. The obstructionists have done us a favor by providing the incentive to rethink ideas and strengthen our resolve. They make us stronger while they weaken.

America is a nation begun by a few people in England who passionately desired freedom of religion and freedom to live life free of overbearing rulers. They tamed the wilderness of the New World. They formed colonies of like minded souls and forged a new way of living. It was difficult but communally possible. They survived against huge odds of weather, lack of food and shelter, and lack of capital goods that would have made their settlements so much more secure and healthy.

In the long run they invented all that they needed and grew on that base. Although we have morphed into a society of warring political factions, we remain committed to going the solitary road when we feel the others are not right. Individualism at the core of inventing self and a new society!

Community to gather strength among like-minded people. Fresh beginnings to patch together a meaningful new day.

Is another new colony in America forming? Will individualism and straight thinking set our problems aright? How much will we rely on each other, or on a larger entity that purports to be alright?

A question of moment. It looms large in our lives.

What road will America take on its way to the future?  We can hope but we cannot know at this point in time.

October 18, 2013