On Being Me

I really don’t want to sound selfish; it makes me squirmy, uncomfortable. But I feel the need to come clean on a few things.

First, I am not confident of what I believe from moment to moment. Logic helps me through a lot of material, but still I wonder if I’ve got it right in my mind. I think that is a good thing because it keeps me open; frustrating to live with, but open minded.

Second, I positively hate doing the grunt work of researching a lot of material. I rely instead on the gestalt of a topic. That is the overwhelming bulk of information and discussion that has already occurred on a topic, and how you feel about all of that. Gestalt is a term from psychology meaning ‘unified whole or shape of the whole’ in context and meaning. Relying on a gestalt can mislead my thinking. I may save time by not carefully researching something, but can easily stumble into an ancillary issue that destroys the credibility of the first issue being written about. So be forewarned!

Third, emotions play a strong role in my thinking. I seem to always struggle with what is fair. If someone plays the bully role, I’m there to counter it. If someone makes a strongly biased report in public, I tend to take an equally biased opposing view.

Problem is those tactics, mine, don’t always accomplish what I’m really trying to do. What is my objective? Well, really two:

            First, to ventilate my overburdened brain and unload the junk that has 

            accumulated on myriad issues; think of this as a form of personal therapy.

            Second, to sound a softer more logical voice in a chaotic mass of public

            information; think of this as bringing people to a better, more sustainable way

            of looking at important issues so we all can move on to more productive things.

If I can deliver on these objectives I hope to be a calmer person who thinks logically and brings articulated thinking to contentious issues. If that catches on my hope is our nation’s handling of these issues will be more productive and creative.

This requires that all of us do some basic retooling of our own thinking process:

• really try to remove emotion from the issues and our discourse on them
• actively ignore contentious material in print or electronic media
• seek opinions based on logic and fact; give those sources your support
• resolve to ask leaders for realistic and constructive solutions to public problems

If we do this I have confidence we can turn the tide in public discourse toward fruitful and worthwhile ends. Meanwhile civility among us all should improve. One can hope!

Just imagine what our social networking could be like! We could actually help educate each other, maintain a high level of social justice, and efficiently steer scarce resources where they are most needed for the overall good of our society. Idealistic I know. But it is work needing to be done. And it must be done by a large portion of our population. If we set expectations high, our leaders may follow suit.

Remember ours is a government Of, By and For the People. Abraham Lincoln said it best. And his goal, “that we shall not perish from the earth.” Now there’s a goal!

November 28, 2011