So much more to learn

Every day I spend some time in quiet reflection using a bible app, You Version. It helps to center me and causes me to really think. It is obvious it is working in conjunction with the times as the daily verses and reflections shared are on point with day to day happenings in general. But some days seem to key in to an exact experience on a personal level.

The other day, the speaker quoted John Maxwell and his theory that there are 3 basic learning attitudes, arrogant, naive and teachable. On a particular page I belong to I witnessed someone sharing a hurt they experienced when they were open and honest about their feelings of accomplishment, only to have someone else ridicule them and basically tell them they were sick of hearing about their success every week. When they shared with us, another person made a comment how “the person who voiced their dissent was right, who wants to hear that every week”.

Normally I scroll on by, but this time I tried to politely ask some questions that would perhaps make the aggressor have a change of heart, but ultimately, she was stuck in her “I have my opinion and I’m entitled to it.” While that is absolutely true, also true is some opinions are mean spirited and when shared with others without consideration could very possibly paint quite an ugly picture of one’s true self. What we also tend to forget is that opinions are just that, what we think, based on information we have heard, real or otherwise. She was unwilling to consider that just because she didn’t find the information valuable, it needed to be shared. What she needed to consider was that this was in fact, extremely valuable for someone else to continue on their path to success. We all have our own path to walk and different things speak to us in different ways. It is very selfish to dismiss what works for someone else because it is not part of our process… so I walked away, no sense in fighting with someone who is unwilling to learn. Sadly, her line of thinking is pretty much what is happening on so many levels right now.

Also on my bible app the other day, the speaker of the day, who is also a singer, and I can’t remember her name, said “Social media is designed to make us feel wise in our own eyes”… so spot on. People posturing on every subject, speaking with authority that their post is the only real bit of information out there.

With media having free reign, it has shifted from a delivering of the facts to the delivering of opinions on how we should feel about the facts. And now people have to decide which opinions they believe because the facts are buried deep within the story somewhere.. .and many of us are not inclined to actually look for the supporting facts. I must admit, I fall into that category sometimes. We just share and re-share the same memes and articles and quotes because in our opinion they are the truth. And anyone who disagrees with us is obviously less intelligent than we are, because after all; we know everything.

I do not get involved much with the political fighting. I truly miss the days of who you voted for was your business and yours alone. I do not engage in conversations much about it except for with a very small group of people.. last week a conversation took place about recent happenings. The person I was speaking with made a comment that all sides should be able to sit down like rational adults, have conversations and work to fix what is wrong in society. I smiled and said in a perfect world, perhaps. About 3 sentences later I was being screamed at because I said, I agree with you, except I could see how perhaps this might occur… 98% agreement, small difference of thought process on one particular instance and BOOM and emotions took over… and this was with someone I love.

So tell me how are imperfect strangers supposed to sit down and speak rationally and work things out? Who among us is willing and able to control our tempers and use some humility by realizing we do not know everything, in fact we know next to nothing… we only know what the media wants us to know.

While I do not engage in debates, I do try to work towards a better world. I work to promote feelings of kindness, compassion and tolerance. I try to keep an open mind and am very willing to engage in conversations with people to better understand their point of view. I am not looking for my mind to be changed necessarily, but if it makes sense and there is solid evidence to support it, that very well could be the case. I am open to the fact, that my opinions may be off in some areas when it comes to the political climate and social injustice. One thing however, I am confident in is my opinion that if you look for good you will find it, if you look for evil you will find it as well. So what are we all looking for? And how are we going to use that information once we find it? Oh there is so much more to learn.