When I came home from shopping on Saturday my neighbors, (not the dog barking city ordinance neighbors) but the ones who replaced them, had a large trailor with a ATV on it and in the back was a huge bloody, skinned deer carcass. I was shocked. To tell the truth, I realized I had never seen a dead animal in that condition (skin and headless). It is really awful. My friend Carol and I were feeling really sad for this Bambi used to be. It got me thinking. Why do we all have such a disconnect about the sequence of things? I am no vegan. I am almost sure that the prime rib I had for dinner didn't have a picnic and then skip joyfully on to my plate. Why is everything so sterilized and wrapped in cellophane? I wondered how many things I could count that demonstrated this in 72 hours of my life. Here is my list:
1-I drove around for one hour to try to find flip flops for a 1.00
2-I ate doughnuts for breakfast and then went out to breakfast too.
3-I knitted sweaters for my friends dogs and drove past many homeless people in downtown Cheyenne after it snowed.
4-I corrected(pointedly) the negative tone of a R.S. lesson and made the young inexperienced teacher look like she was going to cry.
5-I complained about the school system and the racket involved with working for the public schools when I work in a public school.
6-I wondered why my school kids parents weren't working when I come home every night and sit in bed knitting and watching murder and mayhem on T.V.
7-I watched a show about the 1/2 ton man while eating a pint of Ben and Jerry's half baked ice cream
8- I told one of my kids at school who is constantly sick to buck up when I know for a fact it is hard to do when you feel like shit
9- I complained about too much WOW time and went in to watch too much Tivo and QVC
10- Most other stuff I rant about
So.. I guess we are all hypocrites. I like Kurt's idea of spin and narratives and how we tend to give ourselves good and generous press while holding the church, politicians, family and friends to an impossibly high and unforgiving standard. I felt like this had been mentioned by someone.... Oh yeah Jesus, Mohamand, Buddah, and many other wiser people.
So my friends. We are all equally flawed, speak too soon, and forget to forgive and walk in the other poor slobs shoes for a day. Any way. Made me think.
Beach Boys--I Get Around
18 years ago
5 comments:
Good points. Truth is very fluid and we can't expect our view to be another's. I think the less dogmatic we are the easier it is be humble and open.
Yeah... i agree. Dogmatism in ANY form is harmful. At the same time, i think often the flaw doesn't lie in our hypocrisy, but the way we disengage ourselves from our lives (as a side note, in Thailand they call pork, pig, and steak, cow meat). Obviously none of us are perfect and any of us could generate a similar list of our own. There is always a gap (i think) between ideology and practice. But, i don't think that means we should necessarily shift our ideals, just that we should allow for the inherent contradictions. To me, being humble and open means being teachable. That's how i personally judge where i'm at. Do i still listen? Do i still love? It has nothing to do with self-deprecation. It has nothing to do with an affinity for authority. i think humility has a lot to do with understanding the context in which you are placed. You are human. You are flawed. You will die. You are hear to lean. Understand this. Because of this, i'm much less worried about inconsistency as i am consistency. Inconsistencies exist in any organization and individual life. i'm more worried about habits i've kept over the years that have yet to change. When i see consistent problems (in the government for example), i do not think there is anything wrong with engaging myself in dialogs that seek to change systemic flaws. It's one thing to expect perfection. It's a very different thing to dream and seek out the very best future options while conserving the aspects that still hold value.
Jesus, Mohammed, and Buddha were revolutionaries. Revolutionary, in that, they each developed keen sensibilities that engaged them in the world in profound ways. They listened. They loved. They saw the gap between ideology and practice, but taught ideology with the expectation of practice. Their vision of the world transcended bleak realities, and in that, encouraged others to push the bleak realities closer to their envisioned utopias. So, i guess what i am saying is that hypocrisy and acknowledgment of contradictions is a great thing. But, just because they exist everywhere doesn't mean we don't push for changes where we can.
instead of "You are hear to lean," i meant to say "You are hear to learn."
alright, so it is, but to be honest I am here to lean and today I am planning on doing just that, leaning
i'll never get it right. i meant "here to learn" :)
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