Blog 272 – 04.13.2016

One of the things that makes me so angry with others and myself is a certain obnoxious (highly offensive and objectionable) trait that many of us are guilty of, that of coming across as a know-it-all. I have been accused of being a “smart ass” several times and I usually don’t make it better by saying, “Would you prefer a dumb ass?”

It is so easy for us when we think we are in the right, on the correct side of an issue to lord it over the other. But we err when we do so because though we may have part of it right it is very likely that there is more to the story than our particular view point. I have lived long enough to have been on most sides of the issues of our day especially the ones that people argue so heatedly. For many years I considered myself a Republican and a Conservative Christian. And then for twenty years a Democrat and a Progressive Non-Believer. Though I have come to a more middle position True  Believers still scare me the most because they believe so strongly that they are right and others wrong that they might strap a bomb to their back to prove a point or shoot an abortion doctor both crimes no legitimate religion or faith would ever condone.

What makes us think we are so right that we have a right to force our opinions on everyone else? In a word, ego, the little monster of our own creation that would defy sense and sensibility, love, and civilization and set up a theocracy where he or she alone called all the shots. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump both appeal to our little egos because they are driven almost entirely by their own. To even consider being a Presidential candidate you must have a pretty powerful ego. Neither Ted nor Donald are team players. I may not agree with Hilary or Bernie but they know that government is a team sport and how the game is played and probably have never said since they were children, “If you won’t play the way I want to I will just take my ball and go home.” Surely the American people will wake up to the fact that Ted and Donald say almost nothing else really. Well, my hope is not even that the best man or woman will win but that the littlest ego, who will work for the common good of all not just a powerful few.

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White