Blog 434 – 10.14.2016

Little boys are fond of saying things like the title of today’s piece. Less frequently you might also hear them say other things like, “My Mom is prettier than your Mom.” or “My Mom is nicer than your Mom.” It is, I think, a very silly and childish way to think and yet much of so called adult thinking and speaking is like minded.  Sentiments like, “My country right or wrong.” and “America is the best nation on earth.” speak to a very childish world view.

I have written quite a bit about what seems to me a particularly simplistic or childish way of viewing everyone and everything as either good or bad, right or wrong, or positive or negative. I think it is just as simple to weigh everyone and everything on a scale. How often do we receive a survey asking us to do just that and somebody’s bonus or work pay increase is calculated on the results of these surveys or so we are told. This silly way of thinking like judging a beauty contest has so taken over our culture that we rate people’s appearance on a scale of one to ten and some people think of these ratings as a virtual caste system i.e. that one should not expect to date or marry a ten if they are only a six. Ludicrous but this notion of rating things and people persists. We have heard this nonsense all our lives, “Nine out of ten doctors or dentists prefer…”, “The survey says…”, “The polls are in and the people are for…” What do you think?

Peer pressure, group pressure, all aimed at lining us all up. Take a side, whose side are you on, we’re right and everybody else is wrong, we’re the best and nobody else is even a close second. All just variations on the same silly theme, “My dad is bigger or stronger than yours.” Really? I find myself using terms like best and favorite less and less or at least moderating the terms to “one of the best” or “one of my favorites.” I don’t think we realize how offensive our superior attitude comes across to others or how off putting our habit of calling everything right or wrong or rating everything is to people with different views.

Don Williams’ song “I Don’t Believe” argues against many of these childish ways of thinking and believing. One phrase from the song in his list of things he does not believe is, “That being first is always best…” If that sounds un-American to you I submit that it is more than gentlemanly or ladylike to allow someone else to go first and that I believe the true American spirit is not thinking and acting like people who think and look like me should always come first but moving the “Have nots” also into the category of the haves, raising the standard and quality of life for all here and abroad so that every child can be proud of their parent and ever parent hopeful that their child will have a better life than they did.

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White