Untangling the thoughts

I had a long and difficult discussion today, and then I came home and did all that post-situation thinking. You know the kind--when you're unhurried and unpressured and you can think long enough to say clearly what you mean. I think it's why I enjoy writing so much. I'm so much better at it than speaking.

I don't think that people understand that neutrality is a very difficult position to take and hold to. It would be so much easier, simpler to cave in and choose a side and join in all the turmoil and angst that everyone else experiences over wars and elections that really don't make a bit of difference in the end. The labels are so quick to fly: coward, pacifist, unthankful, taking but not giving back, stupid, ignorant, lazy, uninformed, a dreamer. The list goes on. And that's okay. Their opinions make no difference in what I have to hold on to because it is at the core of my values. I respect the right of everyone to hold to their opinion. I don't believe than any of us ever have a justification for forcing our opinion on another. And I feel strongly that it's important to have an informed opinion.

When feelings get in the way, however, it's harder to listen. But if people would just listen, even if they didn't agree they might just understand. And that's what makes differing opinions easier to accept.

I came home and read Annie's blog and the quote about respect for life made everything click, validated so many of the things I know I have to hold to. We live in an age where life is cheap to so many people. I expect Rome was not much different, if one considers the people's lust for blood at sporting events. Not to mention the Crusades, the Inquisition, etc., etc. Now we have kids who kill people every day--onscreen but I think the effect is the same. If not worse. It removes the human element that comes after we lose someone we love. When it's onscreen it's easy to forget that in real life there are beating hearts stilled, ideas and thoughts stopped, and widows and orphans, and mothers with one less child. It doesn't matter which life is stopped, the effect is the same. Someone is gone.

But the lack of respect doesn't just come with the termination of life that's already in existence. It also comes with a lack of respect for what starts it. Sex is such a game these days. Teens treat it like a plaything. No one seems to bring up the fact anymore that sex has a purpose. That purpose is to create life. It's like eating. Eating's purpose is to nourish the body, and when we lose sight of that fact and start using it for other purposes, it begins to harm us. Does that mean it is wrong to enjoy eating? Absolutely not. It's wrong to lose sight of its purpose. And, because I believe in a Creator, I also feel it's His right to decide what is an acceptable use of those powers and what is not. He gave us the gift and the guidelines.

When we lose sight of the precious fact that we can pass on life through engaging in what should be a deep, emotional bond with another human being, and start using those reproductive powers as a plaything for our enjoyment only, we're in trouble. The value of life is diminished right there at its source. And it's the use of it without consideration of the consequences that leads to further killing....

I happen to believe that there is a purpose for this earth, and that the purpose was for it to be inhabited. Not with killing machines, but with people who love life and respect it. Whenever I start to wonder if I could perhaps be mistaken in where I go for spiritual nourishment, I come back to the fact that I am among people who treasure life enough to take an unfavorable position. In the face of imprisonment, even death. I feel for mothers who lose their sons in the gory business of war, but it wasn't anyone who belongs to my faith who took that life. In whatever land they were born into, or wherever they happen to be transplanted, they value life above death, God's law above man's, and look forward to that time when the earth will be different. But not at the hands of mere humans. It's not their job to bring those changes about. We patiently wait for the true solution to every problem that faces mankind, and until then, the rule of thumb is seek peace and pursue it.

I really don't care if it's a popular stand or not. I don't care if it's hard sometimes to face the taunts and ridicule. The peace of mind and heart--there's nothing worth trading it for.

I'm not sure it's any clearer now than when I was speaking it, but it's out there now instead of churning in my head, and I think I'll be able to relax and think about something else.

Workshop Write

Prompt: "The two basic items necessary to sustain life are sunshine and coconut milk. Did you know that? That's a fact." ~Waldo Salt (1914-1987),...**

I'm staring at this quote, right here on Bartleby.com and wondering how on earth Uncle Waldo managed to land himself a single quote, much less this one. He also thought red pepper and honey was a surefire way to cure a cold in a day. Just because the sinuses are drained and you're on a sugar high doesn't mean the cold is cured.

I do have to say he got around. He was sailing in Burmuda the day he died. The only continent he hadn't visited was Antarctica, and that only because he consistently failed the physical required to make the trip. For a man who thrive on sunshine and coconut milk, I would have thought he'd grab at the perfect excuse and run with it. Instead he complained to his congressman.

Uncle Waldo was from a small town named Krum. He said the town was named because so many people turned fifteen and said, "Crumb, I gotta get outta here!" Of course, being of German ancestry they spelled it with a K. Kept their roots but took flight with their wings.

He was no millionaire, and had no degree from any prestigious university, but I really do think he knew as much if not more than anyone who had. He simply fed his urge to travel and experience more. His form of travel was to go till the money ran out and then work until he had enough to move on. Now I'm thinking there has to be all sorts of problems with that and passports, visas, etc., etc. I do think that sometimes his sister Agnes bailed him out with the money her husband had made in real estate. She was one rich widow, and he brought her all sorts of gifts from the places he visited. None of the rest of us got anything but stories.

He fell in love with the South Pacific. Hence the quote. I think someone used it in a book, but I wouldn't doubt that it was his before then. In fact, I really think it was someone who met him who made a mint on the Where's Waldo concept.
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**NUMBER: 47976
QUOTATION: The two basic items necessary to sustain life are sunshine and coconut milk. Did you know that? That’s a fact.
ATTRIBUTION: Waldo Salt (1914–1987), U.S. screenwriter, and John Schlesinger. Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) and Joe Buck (Jon Voight), Midnight Cowboy (1969).

Based On The Novel by Jam.