There are way too
many worthless and wrong words floating all around the air waves today. Time was people would read the news and
ponder it for awhile and except for some who took the time to write an op-ed
piece in response to it, most would keep their response and opinions to
themselves or they shared them with their friends over coffee where there could
be a dialogue and blending of ideas.
Now people can
hear or read something and have a reaction and response posted and read by
hundreds if not thousands of people, all in five or ten minutes. They take no time to ponder what was said or
research the information to enhance it or find the truth. It’s just formulated and develops into an
opinion and it is published, which for many give it creditability, so it is
reposted again and again.
Over time opinions
become doctrine and edicts for others to heed and adopt, and if they don’t they
quickly become the opposition, the enemy and the wars break out with everyone
telling everyone else what they should believe and what they should do. This only increases the words which increase
the chaos and the beat goes on.
The unintended
consequence for all of this is that a culture of like, unlike, comment, or
share has been developed with no regard for truth and no responsibility for
untruth; a culture living on fast brain food and fast information with no
concern for nutrition or well being, just empty words falsely filling our minds
like empty calories falsely filling our bellies.
This is not limited
to social media but extends to our bookstores and libraries as well, which find
their way into schools. We have books
upon books pushing and selling this idea and that idea on how to think and how
to act; giving us new ideas so we can get rid of all the old ideas that we have
been building on for years. Foundations
and traditions be damned; be “progressive and ascribe to this new and better
idea. Testing and proving be damned; try
this, you’ll like it!
Instant change and
instant growth is a magician’s trick; an illusion to the eye and a delusion to
the mind. Good change and growth takes
time and seasoning to ripen and mature into substantial fruit. Thoughts and ideas take reflection and
pondering to ripen and mature into a sustainable reality.
A progressive
thought process is just that, a process.
That process takes time to look at new ideas and observe results or
consequences before being put into action.
The Native Americans looked down the line 7 generations before making
hard decisions. They had that concept
down pat before the “progressive action people of sophistication” came and
instantly wiped out these “traditional, unsophisticated, ignorant
savages”. This is a pattern that has
been going on in other countries as well.
A lot of the difficulties in the Middle East
now go back to the same hubris of foreigners coming in and “saving” the poor
ignorant inhabitants from themselves. As
Dr. Phil would say, “How is all that working out for you?”
I don’t like
labels but if I had to label myself I would say I am a Progressive thinker but
a Traditionalist activist. The old and
ancient ways are to be respected and built on, not immediately dismissed and
discarded. The old ways have been
thought out and tried. Yes, they may
need some adjustments but they don’t need to be simply eradicated.
In the circle of
life all things matter; the old is incorporated into the new, making it whole
and more sustainable. Our words need to
be withheld until they are weighted with reflection and truth. Then they are worthy to be shared and heard.
