DON’T VOTE WHILE OFFENDED
you will be guilty of VWO
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The inserted article below is actually very funny, please read it, even
though, I am one of the voters it derides. It
highlights many of the mistaken assumptions some accept as the thoughts
motivating we of the Democratic Party to vote as we do. Number 12 is the best one because it gives a
very funny word picture to describe a real national problem.
.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson provides a basses for our recognition of
the problem but also pointing us in the direction of mutually satisfying
solution,
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“Let me never fall
into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted when I am contradicted.”
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Emerson is not saying that instances of persecution are misperceptions
…persecution is real. It is the
expression of hostility toward a race, a political point of view, or religious
belief. The emotional response of those offended
by persecution is resentment and anger. When
persecuted the offence automatically clouds the judgment of the persecuted with
anger, blocking the ability to work in peace with the detractor toward some mutually
acceptable resolution of the hostility. Emerson's
quotation suggests a non- aggressive strategy for handling those negative
emotions...receive persecution as its none-offensive cousin, contradiction. Contradictions are simply opposing statements
or ideas to which clear-heads can create mutually acceptable solutions. However, solutions remain out of sight to
those offended by hostility. Win-win
solutions can only be developed in the absence of the emotional fog of persecution
and angry resentment. Emerson’s
statement points to a second choice. We
can see a conflict as an offensively destructive persecution or as a non-offensive
sol resolvable contradiction.
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Paul directs us to this approach, in 1 Corinthians 13;4+7, where
he lists fifteen attributes of love. His
eighth description of love is that, “…it is not easily angered.” “…dreaming that I am persecuted,” as Emerson
put it, invites angry resentment to block love in dealing with contradiction.
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Courageous and honest people will be expressing contradictory
points of view during the election season here in the United States and that is
as it should be. As the electorate, we
cannot afford to be offended when told our point of view is ignorant or
stupid. After all, either or both
options are possible. The price we pay
for allowing ourselves to become angry or resentful is not just the loss of friendships…as
bad as that is. Dismissing the ideas of
those who oppose or persecuting them for their concerns allows anger to cloud
our judgment negating our ability to understand what they are trying to do or
why they believe, it is important to do it. Without knowing their true motivation, it is
only natural to come up with unfounded conclusions about what drives their
opposition. Sense each side knows their
own motivations are pure it only makes sense that any opposition is motivated by
selfishness, greed, deception, and/or evil.
At this point, false assumptions mount up into, wholesale self-assured persecution,
thwarting any possibility of creating mutually beneficial solutions
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The fact is most, if not all, of the contesting points of
view arise out of lifetimes of prayer, considerate thought, decades of
experience, and exhaustive study…I know mine have. I remain hopeful that people of goodwill can reach
win-win solutions politically, socially, economically, environmentally, and
even interpersonally if we drop our assumptions of nefarious intentions in
favor of understanding the concerns fellow Americans’ are trying so hard to
address. Mutually beneficial solutions await
our discovery. If we can put our heads
together and go to the moon, we can do this.
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