Thursday *****fest - 4/20/17

I won't hold a grudge if someone wants to disagree with me on things like trade or military intervention. I WILL, however, hold a grudge if someone reveals themselves to be a bigot... and it seems like a lot of those folks are feeling free to let that hate fly free now.

I will draw a line when discrimination is concerned. I'm not afraid to call people out (surprised...right? LOL). I usually don't disown them or walk away from a discussion. I will keep lines of communication open. I don't think name calling ever solves anything. I try to be polite and use facts. Some people just don't like facts. These people get sick of me calling them out and slowly drift out of my line of fire voluntarily.

Agreed, agreed, agreed. I think we must have discussion to move toward common ground and common good. A good discussion will of course bring out differences. We can learn from each other if we listen and try to understand. But our discourse lately is more and more just nastiness, with no effort to seek to understand. Just a taking of sides and name calling and painting people with broad brushes of misunderstanding.

I am a religious person, and I am particularly disappointed--heartbroken and distressed, really--in the loud and divisive rhetoric that comes from some people who profess to represent Christians. Well, they don't represent me. I find this kind of divisiveness even in my own congregation of people who I love. to keep the peace, people will just not talk about things. But silence also leads to lack of understanding. (A quote I like lately is "I will not be complicit by being complacent.")

I think humility is one of the most important character traits. My fellow Christians should know this and should practice humility, and seeking to see everyone as important and equal. Not one of us has all the answers. We have to work together. It is one of the great pains in my life to see lack of understanding and respect all around us.

I think people who value peace often fear to speak up because we now fear (1) creating more conflict; (2) being attacked--like your husband was.

I think the issues with decent public discourse--and seeking to see the humanity of all humans--are perhaps the most pressing and troubling issues we face currently--not just as a nation, but as a world.

Okay kids, I caught up to the Thursday *****fest on Friday, because it's been that kind of week, don'tcha know.

Living as I do here in the Great White North, there are certain realities, weather-wise, that should not come as a surprise to people. Like, when it gets marginally warm enough to stop snowing, it usually starts raining. A lot. Really a lot.

So yesterday, it was one of those days. Rain of epic and Biblical proportions. I had places to go and people to see. On the roads? Those who saw a single drop of rain on their windshield and will henceforth and forever not drive over 5 kilometers (that's 3 miles) an hour in the express lane of the highway. Or those who haven't noticed it's raining out and they blast by you like they're in the pole position at the Indianapolis 500. And the trucks that speed by stirring up walls of surf that would make the North Shore of Oahu green with envy.

It took me 2-1/2 hours to get to work and 2-1/2 hours to get home. And probably took five years off my life, although my arteries are nice and clear from being continuously startled by stupidity.