Trying so Hard to NOT Have an Agenda

Hello all,

I would very much like to write about my usual trivial little things, such as the shiny Black Toyota van I saw yesterday that was called the "VELLFIRE", which amused me for a variety of linguistic reasons.

The Toyota Vellfire.  I mean, it was a superb van, quite new.  Nothing against the awesomeness of Toyotas.  It was the name "Vellfire" that got me.

I would also like to write about the chocolate chip cookies I saw for sale that were evidently imbued with an entire cup of coffee's worth of caffeine.  In each cookie.  Quite honestly, I'd rather drink the cup of coffee.  At least it would warm up my numb hands.


You see, linguistically hilarious  car names and caffeinated cookies are amusing and trivial.  And I'd love to be able to concentrate on these things because I believe there are deep hidden truths in apparently trivial and indisputably hilarious nonsense.

But as we've nudged our way closer and closer to various December holidays and the new year, I've been reading things on Facebook and in news articles that get me  all frustrated and itchy to write and rant.  Then I stop myself because really, who wants or needs to hear me rant?

 
So in lieu of a bunch of lengthy rants, I would like to share some mini rants in the form of   my TOP THREE   RESPONSES TO STUFF HAPPENING NOW.  (I had approximately 26 responses to stuff happening right now, but for your sakes--as well as for the sake of my numb fingertips--I limited it to three)


1. GUNS.    

I will freely admit that guns do not shoot themselves.  I would definitely not want to have guns start to sprout arms and opposable thumbs with which to pull their own triggers.  Yes, people are required to pull the triggers of guns.  Fair enough.

However guns are not multi-purpose objects.  Guns are not Transformers.  They don't morph from being guns into being Ice Cream makers, for example.  Guns are made to go bang, are made to shoot bullets into things.

People who want guns so they can shoot at paper and cardboard targets or clay blobs  are fine with me. These people go to specifically prepared  places to shoot at inanimate objects. Dandy.

People who want guns so they can wear day-glo orange vests and red fuzzy hats and hunt legally for animals to eat are also fine with me, provided they aren't going out there to shoot endangered species, or to shoot things just for the disturbing visceral pleasure of blowing away living creatures.

What scares me to bits is the current situation: (1)   people with or without mental problems who procure guns to do horrific things (for the record, I classify war as a horrific thing.  But shooting guns in the name of war is a different issue that I'm not going to address here) and (2) the apparently large number of fear-filled folks who feel that our only choice as a society, in order to protect ourselves, is to arm ourselves  in the name of self-defense.

Fear is a terrible thing.  Fear awakens the  "even up the score" neurons in our brains.  Fear convinces us that the way to stop violence is to carry with us the tools for more violence.  Fear inspires our 'fight or flight' response to the point that we shut down critical thought and reasoning and just dash off to our nearest gun-selling retailer.

I propose that if we can stay strong and withstand our initial fear response, our brains might start letting those critical thinking and rational thought neurons fire up again, and we can then work together to not only protect ourselves, but also work to prevent more horrific things.

This is simple.  Arming everyone out of the fear that someone will come along and shoot us is kind of an act of war to me.  It is the first step towards creating  a battle ground.  However, applying  reasonable, rational and legal controls  to gun ownership and use (NOT banning guns  entirely folks.  Stop yelling at me)  AND working together to build a community instead of a battleground are acts  of peace.  Well, as peaceful as we are capable of right now at least.....

You guess which option I choose.


2. HOLIDAY HULLABALLOO

Okay.  This is sort of like the "I say 'to-may-to', you say 'to-man-to'" controversy.

You can call your chopped down, electric light-festooned tree a "Christmas Tree" and it is your Christmas tree and it is beautiful and good and meaningful  and all yours.

Someone else can call your Christmas Tree a "holiday tree", but just because they call your chopped down, electric-light-festooned tree a "holiday tree" does not make it a "holiday tree" for you. You can still call your tree a "Christmas Tree".  The labeling and/or opinions of others can not and should not change the  delight and personal symbolism  embodied for you  in your tree.

I could visit your house and call your table a toilet tank.  Just because I called your table a toilet tank does not make your table a toilet tank.  Your table is still a table.

People do this with cars all the time.  My first car was a beloved and high-strung 1980 Mercury Capri that I named "Gwenaveer" (intentional spelling) . However just because I named my car "Gwenaveer" did not make my car the wife of King Arthur.

In the end,  the only set of beliefs that we can impose demands upon are our own.  And whether these beliefs involve how we approach religion or how we deal with people different from ourselves, they are OURS alone.


3. PEOPLE IN PAIN

People are in pain folks.  Everywhere.

There are people suffering and starving.  People who are freezing from the cold.  People who are burning from the heat.

There are people who have lost homes and family and vital parts of their own lives to natural and human-made disasters.

There are people struggling to be free, to be educated, to be healthy.

There are people struggling to be allowed to love and marry whom they choose.

In a world so full of suffering and struggle, it is especially important for us to add something to our lives.

We must add compassion.

Because we may be busy working and studying, cooking and commuting and eating and paying bills and posting pictures of grumpy-faced cats, caring for kids and lending out our strength to our places of worship or our kids sporting events,  and meanwhile typing out our heated opinions and posting pictures of cookies and sunsets.....

but we can also fit in compassion.  And every act, big or small, counts.

Try to do the big things.  But if all you can manage are the small, then do those.

Donate your time or money.  Volunteer. Start a movement or a website or a company that helps make the world better.

 But if what you can manage is buying a cup of hot coffee or cocoa for someone whose house is a cardboard box, then do that.

And if you can't do this, then there is still something you can do.

Educate yourself.  Read and watch and listen.  Open your mind and your heart to all the different people and beliefs and creatures and wonders and problems there are.

In the end you'll be strong enough to know who and what  YOU are, and intelligent  and educated enough to embrace  who and what others want and need to be.

Interestingly enough, I would bet that along with your newly opened mind, will come the desire to reach out with compassion......

Ha ha, full circle.

Ironic, no?



Until next time....