Not attending arguments.

😈 

You don’t have to attend every argument you’re invited to.

  I thought of this today as I was scrolling past facebook news feed. It’s a very liberating thought. I can actually look at a comment and disagree and still keep moving on with my life. Who’d a thunk it? This particular comment that I scrolled past wasn’t even a political or religious comment. Just a random posting about ebooks. The person commenting was saying how much they hated ebooks as opposed to print. My first reaction was to justify my own liking of ebooks due to the ability to adjust the font and the background light and as my eyes age it gets easier to read text I can adjust. But, then I thought “So what?” Why do I feel this intense need to explain myself to a stranger on the internet? Do I need their approval of my reading habits? Does it make me right and them wrong if I can provide the most links or win the argument? Am I that fragile in my own outlook that the only way I can feel comfortable in my own mind and spirit is if I batter the opposing view into submission? If so then what does that say about my own views and beliefs? Of course this was on something really minor but it fits with politics and religion and most every other stance that we have.

Now, that doesn’t mean that some things are not worth taking a stand on. It just means that if what you believe depends on silencing critics or gaining the approval of everyone you come in contact with then you are in trouble. Maybe you don’t really feel deep inside that you have the high ground. I see it everywhere these days and it is especially true of political and religious conversations. It’s kind of like the grammar Nazis or the spell correctors in our midst.

Do you really think that the people you are talking to actually formulate in their/they’re /there own minds the correct spelling of their, they’re, to, too, your,you’re or where to put the fricking comma when they are speaking? Yet you will stop a whole online conversation just to say “gotcha” over a misspelled or misused word and think your argument is superior because you know the difference in spelling of to and too and two.

People talk at people and not to people these days. I can honestly say that I have never to this point been converted by people yelling at me and calling me a libtard or a communist or a homo or a devil worshiper or an inbred hick or saying I worship a sky elf or the spaghetti monster. I have never once changed my mind when people have unfriended me or blocked me on facebook or made physical threats to me. So, even  though I honestly think Donald Trump is an idiot I don’t waste my breath yelling at people I otherwise like and even love trying to convince them that I’m right and they are wrong.

They are though. Wrong I mean.

So, here I am trying to be honest and civil without being a pushover. Once in a while I do post something political. But, to be honest I feel very, very liberal when surrounded by conservative talk and I feel conservative when surrounded by liberal talk. But, left to my own devices I’m a moderate Southern Democrat.

I honestly don’t see how anybody can call life in the womb sacred and then vote to cut health and shelter to young mothers and children and old people. But, I’m through yelling at people about it. I come from a very humble southern background. My roots are as my maternal grandmother once said “Shanty Irish” and my maternal grandfather was Black Dutch and Cherokee. But, don’t worry I don’t claim Native American status and I’m not going to make up a story of my dark skinned momma being shunned by her inlaws. Actually, she was a little dark in her day but still very much a white person. My dad’s people were Irish and British Iles in general decent. But, me? I’m like most people in this nation a mix of different people that came before me or even after me since I lean towards reincarnation. But, speaking of controversy I won’t go there right now.

I have had dreams in my life that were prophetic and I have heard some scientist explain dreams away as if they were nothing but the debris of the previous day. I don’t feel the need to argue because I have experienced the reality of dreams. I have also experienced the times when they are the debris of the day. Maybe that’s the thing with reality. Maybe one size isn’t supposed to fit all. We all wake up in our own skin every day and life is an individual journey that is shared with others but ultimately our own spirit and life lesson is primarily meant for us or me and you as individuals.

So, even though I was born and raised in church and have the t-shirt being yelled at about what the bible says doesn’t change my own inner journey. Being told I’m a naïve hick that believes in a sky daddy also doesn’t change what I have experienced myself about the Divine in my own journey.

So, I am trying not to yell at my facebook friends about politics and religion and other matters although they are important to me. Just know that when I hear a person say “trump is a godly man” I throw up a little in my own mouth. But, I’m not going to yell at you about it. I’m just going to see if we can talk civilly and if we can’t then Imma leave you alone about it.

Peace