When I am driving I often listen to the news at the top and bottom of the hour but mainly so I can catch the traffic and weather report which on WSB Radio provides “every six minutes.” One day this past week I tuned in just in time to hear the well-known talk show host excitedly proclaiming that one of our top national leaders was “cramming it down their throats one more time.”
When did this kind of behavior become acceptable and commendable? I have never found it to be helpful to “cram something down another person’s throat.” It might momentarily make the person feel like they have accomplished something but in the long run this “in your face” attitude does not produce positive results. It creates, or extends, a scenario of winners and losers. And when that happen, everyone loses.
I am of the opinion that a good deal is not when I win and you lose. Of course, there are times and situations when one person comes out ahead but I don’t think the goal is to conquer or defeat the other. “All for one and one for all” is best known as the motto of the title characters in the book The Three Musketeers, by the nineteenth-century French author Alexandre Dumas. Whenever possible we should endeavor to find ways where everyone receives benefit from our actions and decisions.
Is this a foolish and naïve attitude? Maybe, but I will go with it instead of the disposition that I must excel and you must fail.
As you well know we are in an election year and the campaign ads are plentiful and many demonstrate the underside of humanity. I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican. I have always voted for who/what I think is best and both parties have often received my vote- and sometimes neither of them. I try to understand the issues and discern what seems best. Sometimes I get it right and sometimes I don’t.
Name calling and one-upmanship are common practices in politics, religion, business, and life in general. In my opinion these practices do not promote healthy relationships or positive results. One current political advertisement suggests that one candidate is no bad that he “gives pigs a bad name.”
I am appalled at how often I hear people called losers, morons, idiots, and other names intended to make them “less than” someone else. I do not understand why it seems necessary to demonize or demean another person regardless of their political, religious, social, or intellectual stance.
We have had a problem growing grass in our backyard. My wife has created beautiful flowers beds but we cannot seem to find an answer to our water problem. Currently we are engaged in yet another attempt to correct this situation. We do not always see eye to eye but that does not mean we attack each other because we have different opinions about the solution.
I recently had surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff. A neighbor had the same kind of surgery on the same day as mine. Both of us are carrying our arm in a sling but he has less time than I to support his arm in this manner. I was instructed not to drive as long as I was wearing the sling. He was told he could drive as soon as he quit taking pain medication- which was just a couple of days. Another friend injured his rotator cuff but his doctor said it could be corrected with physical therapy and would not require surgery.
Does one of these doctors know what they are doing and the others are quacks and don’t have a clue? Did one physician get his degree and training from a reputable institution and the others probably went to some second-rate school or bought their degree online? No! Because of the different degree and nature of the injuries, age, and other factors each doctor came to a different decision to address the problem.
Words hurt and words heal. Our attitude can do much good or harm. We can view others as our enemies or friends. Our actions are constructive or destructive. We can love or hate. The choice is ours.
Jamie Jenkins
thoughts for thursday 