Saturday, July 08, 2006
Maybe I'm not an optimist:
I think there was a time when I was, but I have to agree with my partner and admit I no longer am an optimist. I don’t think I’m a pessimist and I’m too much of a dreamer to be called a realist.
Maybe a certain amount of cynicism has crept in over the past few years, given the past six I can see that. But I’m hopeful too, and I have faith in human beings. Not always in individuals, as people make mistakes, and there are bad people too. But in general I believe there are more good people than bad people. I believe good people want to help make the world a better place.
But my faith has been shaken in the past few years by the events of the world around me. I’ve seen so much destruction and violence and nastiness recently, it makes me fearful for both the present and the future. It also makes me grateful for the great love I have in my life. Erik. My family and my friends. We deeply care for each other and are always there for each other. That makes all the difference in the world. Then there are all the little moments when I see people being kind to each other. They stand out with me. They help restore my faith.
I was very interested in the discovery that mice in the same cage have empathy for each other. I have no doubt in human empathy, but I believe it’s hard to feel that empathy – not difficult, but hard to experience. With all the hostility around us our senses get hit pretty hard with negativity. I hope all the good things help balance that out for people. We all have stories where our feelings warned us, and sometimes saved us.
I was at a funeral a little while ago, and my friend’s great-grandmother had demanded their entire family leave their cabin, (this is around the 1900s when whole families lived and worked the land together,) and that night a tornado ripped the cabin apart. Their entire family would have been wiped out had they not listened to the old woman’s intuition. They did not want to believer her, pack their things and go to the town, leaving their home and land – but they did. They found pieces of the cabin over 35 miles away.
So I believe in intuition, and I trust mine. I’m not always right, but then, none of us are. I think my only wish is that I would be better at holding my counsel. Patience and waiting are the hardest thing for me, and that’s what I want to learn. I’ve been giving this a lot of thought recently.
I think there was a time when I was, but I have to agree with my partner and admit I no longer am an optimist. I don’t think I’m a pessimist and I’m too much of a dreamer to be called a realist.
Maybe a certain amount of cynicism has crept in over the past few years, given the past six I can see that. But I’m hopeful too, and I have faith in human beings. Not always in individuals, as people make mistakes, and there are bad people too. But in general I believe there are more good people than bad people. I believe good people want to help make the world a better place.
But my faith has been shaken in the past few years by the events of the world around me. I’ve seen so much destruction and violence and nastiness recently, it makes me fearful for both the present and the future. It also makes me grateful for the great love I have in my life. Erik. My family and my friends. We deeply care for each other and are always there for each other. That makes all the difference in the world. Then there are all the little moments when I see people being kind to each other. They stand out with me. They help restore my faith.
I was very interested in the discovery that mice in the same cage have empathy for each other. I have no doubt in human empathy, but I believe it’s hard to feel that empathy – not difficult, but hard to experience. With all the hostility around us our senses get hit pretty hard with negativity. I hope all the good things help balance that out for people. We all have stories where our feelings warned us, and sometimes saved us.
I was at a funeral a little while ago, and my friend’s great-grandmother had demanded their entire family leave their cabin, (this is around the 1900s when whole families lived and worked the land together,) and that night a tornado ripped the cabin apart. Their entire family would have been wiped out had they not listened to the old woman’s intuition. They did not want to believer her, pack their things and go to the town, leaving their home and land – but they did. They found pieces of the cabin over 35 miles away.
So I believe in intuition, and I trust mine. I’m not always right, but then, none of us are. I think my only wish is that I would be better at holding my counsel. Patience and waiting are the hardest thing for me, and that’s what I want to learn. I’ve been giving this a lot of thought recently.
# posted by Phillip T. Alden @ 12:13 AM 
