The Stuck In Time Machine

When I was still in High School I saw what I was sure was the direction civilization was going. Equality, humanity, and generosity seemed to be the obvious path. Being one of those that always jumped at the chance to be in the future early, I got married at 17, and had 3 children by 25. I became enamored with learning how to manipulate the physical universe at will while I grew as an accomplished soul.

At 45 a divorce threw me back into the mix. Imagine my surprise to find that the world had not only failed too keep up with my journey in many areas, it had actually stagnated or regressed in most, especially woman's rights.

Sure, some things were different than in my mother's and grandmother's day, but those things seem to hide the truth. Much of the liberation of women was a mask that society used to obscure the flaws in status quo. The trickle-down theory of Reagonomics applied to social justice in a hideous way.

It has left me virtually alone because men don't seem to believe misogyny exists or is wrong, and women of semi-enlightenment see me as the enemy because of my genitalia. I seem to exist in a no-win environment as the Time Machine sputters and fails.

Use, misuse

Some time in the past the credo of more knowledge is good came into being. In some cases this is true but the reality is knowledge is only as good as the purpose it serves. Or more accurately, the results of that service. This leads to the postulate that knowledge is neither good nor bad. It is benign until it is applied.

The lack of knowledge falls into the same crucible of benign existence. What we don't know may help us or hurt us depending on ourselves and others in the context of the results of not knowing. Since we will never know everything, this is as it should be as long as one acts with knowledge that both sets can be used for good as well as bad results.

This would be where wisdom comes in. And wisdom has to include not just our desires but the needs of our neighbors. Not to include the welfare of all is not wise. It's greed.

To many people assume that the knowledge they possess makes them special. This assumption is both arrogant and wrong. This perverse attitude shows up everywhere. Some of the smartest people I know of are the worst offenders. They can not help themselves mostly because they are not perfect. But even when they know that fact it seems easy for them to dismiss their dishonesty because they believe the amount of knowledge they possess makes it alright. They become defensive when challenged. Hard to disguise when you're crippled inside.

On that score, we ALL limp through life. The best of the best is still a cripple. Best to be wise and be honest. Don't try to hide the fact that you are human and therefore not perfect. You can fool some of the people all the time, all the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time.

Staying on the path is not easy

Being of a mind that equality belongs to all it behooves me to listen. But listening is only half the journey I have in mind. Speaking out about injustice can be met with intolerance. Though I fully believe in the feminist cause, sometimes I find myself in a no win position. A critical examination of things sometimes reveals flaws. The passion people bring to a subject can cause them to be defensive or intolerant. In most cases this kind of behavior can be understood by looking for the cause. In the case of women's rights it is easy to see why. For millennium men have enforced a stereotypical, male-centered order in the world. IMHO, this view was always far short of the truth.
The sometimes radical posture of change can morph into a single-minded pursuit and leave behind objective reasoning. "I'm always right" is false, no matter the person or the cause.
The ability to flow, to change, to be flexible seems all too often what we want from others, but pride ourselves in not being so. I'm not saying one should not stand up to injustice, I'm saying one should ALWAYS stand up to it. This would include when it flows from ourselves.
Telling ourselves that we have the right to treat others as bad as they treat us breeds a battle that no one wins.
In other words, lead don't push. If some don't follow, examine your path. Be your own harshest judge, not the most lax. If your path is true, leave the non-followers to catch up when they wake up. And remember, "This above all, to thine own self be true. Then it must follow, as the night the day, thou cans't not be false to anyone." Or some such wisdom. Tell yourself the truth always. Self interest is not always the truth. Revenge or retaliation seldom is.
Be strong but fair in all things if that is how you wish to be treated.

WORDS are important, but so is INTENT!

NO ONE SHOULD BE SUBJECTED TO ANY BEHAVIORS OR LAWS THAT IMPEDE THEIR SURVIVAL FOR ANY REASON, PERIOD. I know the WORDS stated here will be dissected, analyzed, and/or dismissed. But the intent is clear!

2008 et finis

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues its march to nowhere, Blagojevich appoints a good man and former opponent to Senate seat just to piss people off, financial catastrophe, coal waste spill, food shortages, glacial melting, rise in idiot population, cat box malfunction, Time Warner cutting 18 channels, ex doing great, been foolish myself, the long and winding road is a dead end, some good friends pass, the use of fossil fuels continues, fossil fools continue, human rights in most areas of the world suck, Madoff made out, pirates on the high seas emboldened, Cholera epidemic, extinction quickens for many species, young Turks act like turkeys, civilization moves in reverse ratio to technology, thieves get taxpayer money with handshake and a blowgun with poisoned darts, self loving smart people believe in their own infallibility and dismiss such as me, self honest smart people give me a chance but I fail to make the grade, the only feet on this path are mine, I am forced to eat chocolate over and over to save the world, so it goes, on and on, same old same old.

Happy New Year, anyway.

And to those that know who they are, THANKS!

Oppression stinks

Oppression of girls that want to attend school under Taliban rule is reaching despicable new heights. While reading of this in a BBC ARTICLE ON-LINE, I was shocked to the core that any human can believe that the suppression of ANY human rights is a good thing, let alone the rights of half of the population. I'm not a revered or cited philosopher, but damn!