January 25, 2004 11:36 P.M.

Think Again

Road in Bear Valley Springs, California, photo taken by me. I collect electronic �Road� pictures.

Southern California Drought

I have decided I had better stop complaining that we have had no rain. My friends back east are ready to throw snowballs at me. I suspect they might have rocks in them, too.

I have stopped believing in weather forecasters here. I am convinced they all just make up stuff to spice up their forecast, since it never changes much. They have promised rain so many times and we never get a drop.

Rain is a mirage.

At least in the desert.

That's where I live, I guess.

On to more serious subjects

Here I go philosophizing again. (That�s what I do, isn�t it?)

This thought does not originate with me, but I have become aware of late, that we are in a new kind of American Civil War. Not the kind where we shoot and kill each other. We did learn something from the first one. But a war of ideologies, morals, and principles. We constantly hear that we are split right down the middle, 50/50, politically. I really do not look forward to this election year and pray that we can express our views, while embracing the freedom of others to express theirs. It seems that we have already forgotten the fresh glimpse of the unity of our American birthright, which we experienced in the days following 9/11. We realized for a brief time what it truly meant to be �one Nation, under God, indivisible��.

Yesterday, Bonnie posted this in her blog.

As you read on, you will see how it fits in.

�An old man, a boy and a donkey were going to

town. The boy rode on the

donkey and the old man walked. As they went

along they passed some people

who remarked it was a shame the old

man was walking and the boy

was riding. The man and boy thought

maybe the critics were right, so

they changed positions.

Later, they passed some people that remarked,

"What a shame, he makes that little boy walk."

They then decided they both

would walk! Soon they passed some

more people who thought they were

stupid to walk when they had a decent

donkey to ride. So,

they both rode the donkey.

Now they passed some people that

shamed them by saying how awful to put

such a load on a poor donkey.

The boy and man said they were

probably right, so they decided

to carry the donkey. As

they crossed the bridge, they lost

their grip on the animal and he fell

into the river and drowned.

The moral of the story? If you try to please

everyone, you might as well

kiss your --- good-bye.�

Individual Freedom

One of the most difficult tasks in life is to allow people the freedom to be who they are, remain true to who you are, and live side by side. In God�s eternal Kingdom, where the lion will lie down with the lamb, and there will be peace on earth�will everyone be in total agreement about everything? I don�t think so. In fact, I hope not. But they will have learned something that we do not as yet understand. Until then, we have this struggle. One thing that differences accomplish, is to challenge us to grow out of our narrowness. The �trick� is to learn how to do this without attacking, or being attacked.

A quote from one of my favorite mentors

�The growth of the human being is the growth away from narcissism. From �I�, being the center of the universe. We start out in life as the center of �our� world. The more we expand to consider the �stranger in our midst�, the more we have grown. Even Mommy is an extension of self, to a baby. Learning to share is a giant step of growth.

What we often do as people, in order to keep from growing up, is to make �our group� the larger baby. This is what is really done at times by nations, races, religious groups, and in almost every area of life. This is not a problem in itself, but when it shuts out kindness, compassion and empathy, then our unity becomes someone else�s exclusion.

God wants us to grow up. But it is hard to grow up. So we do whatever we can to stay a child. It is the comfort of the womb all over again. �Ah, I am with people who are identical to me. We are one.�

Leviticus 19:34

The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.�

(D. Prager)

Maybe I think too much. It has always been a problem. And I ask a lot of questions. But I come up with some answers at times. So it�s not all bad.

Text � copyright 2003 - 2008 The Homespun Philosopher

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