Closing out 2009

By Alan Charles

As I sat down to write this piece for the last day of the year, I thought “gee, what can I say that others will not have already said so much more eloquently than I?”  Here is what I chose to say.

A couple of things have been on my mind this past week as I’ve read a lot of comments on a lot of blogs about each poster’s ideas of why everything wrong in America and the world is all the fault of one particular political party or the other or one former president or our current president. Each poster just “knows” that things would be so much better “if only” their party or their president were in power and  they just can’t understand why “those other folks” can’t see why their ideas are so “wrong.”

This past January, we witnessed once more the orderly transition of power from one president to another as Barack Obama took the Oath of Office to become America’s 44th president.  Many cheered this new president and looked forward to what they hoped he might be able to accomplish. Others did not. Here’s the rub: we can say exactly the same thing about each of the previous presidents as they took the reins to lead America in the direction they wanted it to go, based upon what a majority of us were saying we wanted them to do by our having voted for them.

The point I’d like to make is, no matter which side wins, the losing side seems to spend the next four years trying to convince us they would be doing a much better job than the current administration. My quarrel is not with our disagreeing, but in the “way” we seem to disagree nowadays. I used to post on a lot more blogs than I do nowadays and whenever I have posted on some of those “other” websites, I am blasted for being a no-good, worthless, socialist, communist, fascist not worthy of continuing to live in the country I was born in and fought for during my military service. As I continually try to point out to these people, it’s really hard for me to read those kinds of things posted about me and then want to listen to anything else they might have to say. I imagine a lot of other people might feel the same way.

One of the things that has weighed heavily on my mind the past six years of blogging has been the change in me. Before beginning to blog, I used to have total strangers walk up to me and say “you have such a gentle spirit.” No one has said that to me for several years until recently, when I began blogging less and working on figuring out what it was about me that made “that gentle spirit” go away.

Two things immediately became apparent. I realized that I had been spending less time in the scriptures than I had before beginning to blog and I realized I had begun returning tit for tat in far too many exchanges with those who seem determined to demean and diminish our current president and then “going personal” with their retorts when I’d call them out for some of the things they had posted.

When I think of all the people in the world who have different religious beliefs than many of us in America, and yet seem to be happier and healthier than many of us here, I have to realize that the thing separating them from me is their “live and let live” way of living their lives; a way I once embraced.

Since I can’t see where I have “convinced” any of “those other folks” that they might not be as “right” as they want to believe, I think my resolution for this new year is going to be to return to the way I used to be and let everyone else continue fighting and not accomplishing anything but making others angry, and see if I can get “that gentle spirit” to return to me.

I have often asked “religious” posters if they honestly believe they are emulating the man they claim to follow. When I asked that same question of myself, I didn’t like my answer, so I think I’ll place my focus on doing that this coming year instead of continuing to butt heads with people who disagree with me and whose minds I’m not going to change anyway.

In closing, I will wish you all the very best the new year has to offer.

This past January, we witnessed once more the orderly transition of power from one president to another as Barack Obama took the Oath of Office to become America’s 44th president.  Many cheered this new president and looked forward to what they hoped he might be able to accomplish. Others did not. Here’s the rub: we can say exactly the same thing about each of the previous presidents as they took the reins to lead America in the direction they wanted it to go, based upon what a majority of us were saying we wanted them to do by our having voted for them.

The point I’d like to make is, no matter which side wins, the losing side seems to spend the next four years trying to convince us they would be doing a much better job than the current administration. My quarrel is not with our disagreeing, but in the “way” we seem to disagree nowadays. I used to post on a lot more blogs than I do nowadays and whenever I have posted on some of those “other” websites, I am blasted for being a no-good, worthless, socialist, communist, fascist not worthy of continuing to live in the country I was born in and fought for during my military service. As I continually try to point out to these people, it’s really hard for me to read those kinds of things posted about me and then want to listen to anything else they might have to say. I imagine a lot of other people might feel the same way.

One of the things that has weighed heavily on my mind the past six years of blogging has been the change in me. Before beginning to blog, I used to have total strangers walk up to me and say “you have such a gentle spirit.” No one has said that to me for several years until recently, when I began blogging less and working on figuring out what it was about me that made “that gentle spirit” go away.

Two things immediately became apparent. I realized that I had been spending less time in the scriptures than I had before beginning to blog and I realized I had begun returning tit for tat in far too many exchanges with those who seem determined to demean and diminish our current president and then “going personal” with their retorts when I’d call them out for some of the things they had posted.

When I think of all the people in the world who have different religious beliefs than many of us in America, and yet seem to be happier and healthier than many of us here, I have to realize that the thing separating them from me is their “live and let live” way of living their lives; a way I once embraced.

Since I can’t see where I have “convinced” any of “those other folks” that they might not be as “right” as they want to believe, I think my resolution for this new year is going to be to return to the way I used to be and let everyone else continue fighting and not accomplishing anything but making others angry, and see if I can get “that gentle spirit” to return to me.

I have often asked “religious” posters if they honestly believe they are emulating the man they claim to follow. When I asked that same question of myself, I didn’t like my answer, so I think I’ll place my focus on doing that this coming year instead of continuing to butt heads with people who disagree with me and whose minds I’m not going to change anyway.

In closing, I will wish you all the very best the new year has to offer.