SPEAKING ONE TO ONE: A Personal Sharing

Since I first established this blog, most of the entries have been political, because my concerns for the country and its citizens were astronomically great during the Cheney/Bush tenure of EIGHT LONG YEARS. I felt that I had to be constantly vigilant during those terrible years for our country while incompetence was rampant in our government in the highest offices in the land. There was no one trustworthy in that regime, and the errors in judgment by Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, and their ilk were so egregious, I felt compelled to be on alert every day. Not that my vigilance kept more terrible disasters from occurring under the dastardly rule of the neocons, but at least I could call my senators and representatives and protest, protest, protest. Perhaps my protests, together with the protests of millions of others in our country, did prevent far worse tragedies from happening; that is something we'll never know. But the point I am making is that I felt I HAD to be on daily duty to make my outrage known at the dismantling of our Constitution, the unnecessary invasion of a country that had done nothing to us, the continuous lies of our "leaders" that tried to justify the war in Iraq that still haunts us, the loss of our privacy rights, the withholding of habeas corpus, the approval of torture by the neocons, etc., etc.

Now that we have a responsible adult in the White House, even one with some of the flaws that every human seems to embody, I am relaxing somewhat from my political concerns, because Obama's flaws seem extremely minor when compared with the gigantic flaws of the previous administration. Ahhhh....intelligence, thoughtfulness, and even eloquence are once again characterizing our President and the men who surround him. Some of the Bush/Cheney wrongs are already being addressed. Thus, I have not felt the need to turn on the TV or computer immediately every morning to find out what fresh new hell was in store for us that day, and my political postings have dwindled from a torrent to a trickle. I am not suggesting, however, that I will not be keeping pace with the political scene from now on--far from it. Our country and our world are in perilous times, largely due to the horrendously incompetent stewardship of the Bush administration. There is so much to undo and to make right! The economy is the worst it has ever been in my lifetime, with seemingly very few options to turn it around. But at least Obama and his team are trying to correct the situation, instead of piling up error upon error, with evil intent, as Cheney/Bush did.

Even now, we still have Bush/Cheney supporters like Rush Limbaugh telling his "dittoheads" he hopes Obama fails in his mission to turn things around. Imagine that! What idiocy! What utter disregard for our country and its people! It is bass-ackwards "patriotism" of this kind that our country needs to divest itself of. I am thankful that the majority of the people in our country have grown beyond this conscienceless, immature type of thinking. I am heartened to see that the neocon philosophy, though still upheld by some (i.e., the bankers on Wall Street!), seems to be slowly dying out, taking its greed, selfishness, and me-first attitudes with it. If we and our planet are to survive, that kind of thinking must be replaced with service-oriented understanding. It has seemed ironically amusing to me that Republican ideologues like to refer to themselves as "compassionate," yet their political practices, especially during the Bush years, have mostly been self-serving and completely devoid of compassion (or even concern) for others, or for the planet itself. Still, in spite of all the problems our country and the world continue to face now, a feeling of relief has rushed over me just knowing that someone competent is finally in charge. I pray that Congress will stand behind him in making the right decisions for our country and the world.

Trusting that the political situation is finally in capable hands in Washington, I would like to switch gears and speak about something that is of even more importance to me.

The purpose of my blog has always been to share things that are meaningful to me, with the thought that perhaps there may be a few readers who will also find them meaningful. I recently turned 73 and, although I don't feel my age, the mirror tells me I am certainly beginning to look it. (~.~) The old "three score and ten" life expectancy has been reached and passed. I've experienced many life events through those years, and now I would like to share some of my lessons learned and wisdom gained from them. Who knows--perhaps it might help others in some small way.

Not long ago, I posted a list of "Pointers" from John Wheeler's site, www.thenaturalstate.org, with the thought that they might be helpful to those who are looking for deeper answers in life. My own life's search has been a long one--for answers to life and death. Even as a child I was thinking: What is this all about? Why are we here? What is the purpose of it all? Who or what are we? I know I was not alone in asking those types of questions. I suspect most of us do it from time to time throughout our lives, especially during the difficult times of illness, loss of loved ones to death, and other hardships. For me, these were ongoing questions for which I tried to find answers in many ways, some of them fruitful, most of them not.

In succeeding posts, I'll be talking in a "one to one" kind of way to whomever might be interested about my journey, with the hope my mistakes will not have to be repeated by others. There is a happy ending and that is the most important thing I will want to share! (~.~)

Valentine's Day, the holiday when love is celebrated, seems an appropriate day to begin posting these personal comments, since so much of my life's search was in pursuit of love--and the happiness I was certain was going to be found right in the center of love, once it was attained. I failed to recognize that the love I so much longed for was not going to be found outside of myself. That was an important truth I had yet to learn.

(SPEAKING ONE TO ONE to be continued)