Before we dive into this
little whirlwind of love, hate furry and passion, can I make one basic request
as well as one promise?
Request: That you will
read this to the end and only stop because of a time constraint not because you
can't stomach any of the content.
Promise: That I am in no
means trying to convert you or change your beliefs, stances and/or truths but
instead the means, the methods to which you get to those oh so valuable beliefs
stances, and/or truths.
Here we go :).
I'm a bit left. Actually
let's be serious I'm way further left than most people would be comfortable
with, or maybe people from the USA. Left like Socialist, I'm not talking
about an Obama socialist or any other American Socialist. We're so
centric in the States it's not even funny especially in comparison to the rest
of the political world. As it's said, some people's heroes are others
terrorists... there's a high possibility that this is true in my case…but that
soap box is for another day.
Like I said, I'm not going for
converting minds over to my side. The big thing I want to express here is
not politics, economic theories, or ideologies.
It's your blood pressure.
Yeah your heart rate, that's what I want to talk about.
Can I make a few assumptions
right quick? Sorry to over generalize,
but we are usually extremely passionate and pretty well set in our thoughts. Politics
is one of those lovely dichotomizing thoughts, along with light and fluffy
topics like sexual preference, religion, abortion, gun rights etc., that should
never be brought up around the table where varieties may exist, which is why
homo tables are the best, homogeneous in thought that is :).
Get to the point Tracey, get
to the point already.
Everything is set in stone.
We have our "TRUTH" and there is no altering, enlightenment,
humanizing. We're on autopilot. And when I say we, I really mean
me.
If you asked about a year ago,
I would have probably said yeah, I'm a very open minded guy, but some
interesting moments have made me realize the contrary.
So I found this magazine,
Letras Libres. It's by far my favorite read, a Mexican magazine and for
any Spanish speakers out there, an absolute must read. Check out their
website, seriously it's some incredible writing. I always pinned the magazine
as left and so I expected left ideas, left advice, left critique. As I'm
reading this one particular article on gun violence and firearms in the US, and
of course I’m expecting a left tone, left ideas, left advice, I'm thrown for a
loop. The criticisms aren't only not pro-left, but much more pro-right
and yet I felt in agreement with much of what was stated. Who let this
filth in my magazine of my views and why is it making some sense?
Another moment: One of the
guys I'm disciplining/mentoring at the church were chatting it up one day.
Not sure how it came up, we start talking about the Right-wing
dictatorship of the 70s and 80s in Chile. This as well could be another
whole blog with branches of thought to get lost in, but let's not go there, at
least not right now. You can imagine where my stance is on this.
His stance and his family stance on the other hand are completely
different. Did I say that I really look up to this young guy? Because I do. I admire even more his
mom and dad who are pillars in our Church. So he explains a bit of his
point of view and then says he's going to bring me a book. This book, El
Día Decisivo, is the voice of Pinochet, the dictator. Just to give you a
taste of what went on, thousands of people were disappeared, concentration
camps, torture, hundreds of people tossed to their Pacific graves with railroad
beams solidifying their eternal silencing... Well I just finished reading El Día
Decisivo. Very very interesting, yes a lot of lies were presented as
truth, and again, we don't have time to truly unfold this monster completely.
By no means did it validate or justify his actions. No, my basic
ideas didn't change, but this bit of my understanding has grown. This man
that I once saw as pure evil did at one point seem to have his ducks in a row,
very human like, a dad who loved his little girls just like I love my little
guy.
So...
What if I could be wrong about
my understanding, my side of the reinforced chasm of you and me, us and them?
What if I only feed my
thoughts with things, people, article and podcasts that are going to embed my own
thoughts that much deeper?
What if I never dare to step
out on one of those oh so shunned and looked down upon slippery slopes where
answers don't look scantron-ish (remember, those rectangular strips that we
took all our major tests on in high school, where the only answers are A. B. C.
or D.), but rather complex, difficult and did I say complex?
Better yet,
What if our societies become
so entrenched in our ideologies and passions that growth is stunted and we
digress all the while thinking we have made great strides by holding strong to our
one sidedness?
What if you believe you have
one absolute truth and see that as a pass to put everything else in absolute
truths as well?
What if we're wrong, you can
read into how you like, but what if I am wrong and all non-my thoughts fall on
deaf ears, my deaf ears?
There's this verse in the
Bible that says I, since I'm a follower of Christ, should be quick to listen,
slow anger and slow to speak. My goodness have I ever twisted and
contorted that. Yeah, I'll listen to and contemplate over someone else’s
opinion, as long as I’ve already filtered all the nonsense out, which leaves me
in a nice, neat, non-complex box of mirrors.
So what’s my plan of action to
change my ways? I'm trying to listen and
not just the "physical listening" but truly opening my mind to
perspectives and ideas that I have often discarded, with much rage and fury at
times, that didn't square with me.
In moments, days and years to
come I want to –
- be intentional about the
increasing the variety of inputs that I'm pouring into my noggin’ (No, this
doesn't mean I'm listening to everything but that I'm asking myself, are my
inputs truly diversified and enriching my thoughts or simply demonizing the other
side while glorifying mine?)
- not have dialogues, days and
relationships based off of how right I might be, but rather start with the
question, "Is there any itsy-bitsy way in which I could be wrong?
- be quick to listen, slow to
anger and really slow to speak.
We’ll see how it goes.
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