Friday, September 27, 2013

I Don't Think So!

I have been told I am rebellious. Maybe I am. Because I can tell you, when someone says "You HAVE to ... [read this book... watch this movie... see this video]...", usually my immediate (if inward) reaction is, "Oh yeah? Try and make me!"
Does that make me rebellious? I don't think so. I think I'm just a literal person, and the statement "you have to [anything]" is the trigger that challenges my individual choice-making. At least to my way of thinking.

Realize: I am completely aware that people mainly are making a rhetorical statement. They obviously don't literally mean to say that I am being compelled to do any such thing. It is their way of expressing approval about the topic at hand.

The problem is that in using that statement, it comes across to those of us who are literal/visual that we are going to be forced to do something. Granted, that something is not usually even an unpleasant thing, but the mere suggestion that I do not have a say in the matter is the issue with me.

I just need to get over myself, I suppose. But is it really too much to ask for people to say what they actually mean?

Monday, September 9, 2013

Passion

Judging by the evidence that I have obviously not written "something every day" recently, I would conclude that it is safe to say that my passion is NOT writing. Which leads me to ponder just what is my passion?

That is difficult for me to even contemplate, because I am not, by nature, what you would call a passionate person. No, I am more of what some may label as "melancholic" or even "phlegmatic". (There was a time when those labels held some interest for me, because any tool that helps one gain an understanding of "how to do" social interaction is a good thing in my book.) So the very notion of being passionate about anything seems at odds with my entire personality.

So, let's just lay that aside and I will mull over things that I care about.... and leave it at that.

Most everyone will say, when making a list of this sort, that Family is #1. And I would say that, as well. But I will also qualify that by saying, "the love and importance of belonging to a family" is #1. It is the place from which most people are launched into the person that they become. And without that centeredness (is that even a word?), one is hampered until they find that place where they can trust and know-that-they-know that they "belong." Because "family" has come to mean different things to different people, and just throwing out the "Family is #1 with Me" statement, takes on a different color depending on how you even define and relate to family.

I care about being able to Trust people; knowing that they are honest, telling the truth, are reliable when they give their word. I also know that the reality is: you cannot just throw out your trust to someone who has not earned it. The same goes with loyalty. I will admit, I have a really, REALLY hard time with people who act / think / say they are your "friend", but don't appear to have any qualms about disappearing without a trace when it comes to being there.

If there would be any one topic I come close to being any shade of "passionate" about, it's Injustice. But I am apparently not so passionate about it that I will rise up and go to any lengths to overturn it. Because deep down in the heart of me, I have only a little faith that I can even make a difference. So boycotting things, signing petitions, slapping a bumper sticker on my car, marching, or even "occupying" anything seems ludicrous to me. Because, in the end, what does it even accomplish? Show me how to put my boots on the ground, let me assess if I have the strength to carry it to the end, and then I can embrace taking a stand. Otherwise, it is just rhetoric. And winning an argument rarely changes anyone's mind, I have found.