I am not done with this topic yet so for better or worse we forge ahead.
I am the first to criticize a compromise. Right here on this blog I mock hybrids in all their forms. What is a hybrid, but a compromise? Sugar-free chocolate cake, shandals, rap/rock, and bicycles built for road or trail are a few examples of the fizzled balloons of compromise. Underwhelming by design. A desire to honor two ideals guarantees disloyalty to both. I believe the saying used in negotiations everywhere is: you know it's a compromise when nobody leaves happy.
Sounds like just what none of us want.
So are you confident enough in your ideologies and theologies to gamble on a win or lose proposition? To be awkwardly specific, some of us have painted ourselves into a corner of non-compromise. You know it too. Adhered to a set of beliefs supported by your dogma, your neighbors, your preferred televised programming, the billboards on your way to work, you think you have come to these beliefs empirically, but have you? Is it a coincidence that so many of your friends and neighbors feel the same way too?
Welcome to your marketing demographic, we have been expecting you.
That is not to say that we are not who we are, or that we have been duped by conglomerate corporate governments. Those are comprised of people too, occasionally organized, never omniscient. we have to examine ourselves to find an interest in compromise.
I know there are things we all want. I also know that when you take a crowd away from a bully you find them more reasonable. There is just so much at stake and so much pressure to not give in, we bumble around with our lynch mobs looking to pick off strays.
Are you willing to compromise?
Can gay people get married if kids can pray in school?
What are you willing to give up to have?
Juancho
11 comments:
Larry King was recently quoted as saying, "I learn more when I listen than when I talk." I like that. Understanding and believing people are two different things. I don't have to agree to try to find out where a person gets their ideas. I can also cement my beliefs/idealogies more when I open my ears, or it can change them. And, I've said this before, the older I get, the more I realize I don't know anything at all. I am not always right. Neither are you (as a collective), so listening more and picking battles more effectively seems to be the logical thing to do, in my opinion, since you're askin'.
Goddamn you Juancho! This is making me think about stuff! Actually, this is all tied into something I've been thinking about lately, which is that I am far more interested in honesty than ideology. I don't want to argue with someone who has different views than me, (it's useless and time consuming to say the least) I'd rather know WHY they think the way they do. Unfortunately even that is difficult because people think you are arguing with them even when you are not. It's very tricky to get at the heart of any hot-button issue because generally the heart is all heart- people are emotionally committed to their views. It's why we get all het up about them in the first place.
As to what would I give up to get what I want? Nothin'. I don't leave my house anyway. Lynch mobs? I don't see any lynch mobs! Humm-ho-hummy-humm!
Honestly, Lopo hit the nail on the head in your last post. Rarely are things black and white. We'd love them to be, because then we could just check the manual, and settle all of our problems, but life just isn't that tidy. If you play hardline, too hard and too long, you will be alone. I've never met 2 people who see eye to eye on everything, all the time. Every friend I have gets under my skin, as I do theirs, but I forgive those trespasses in favor of their strengths. Where do you draw the line? It's different every time. I don't believe in the death penalty, and will vote against it every time, but if it came to protecting the life of my wife, I'd settle it now, and with authority.
What May said.
I'd give up strident advocacy for fair sentencing laws. I'd give up a car for a shower and locker room at my office. And I'd give up on my dream of a 29er if I could ride my Dakar with Juancho on his Titus at Munson sometime in the next few weeks.
You all are smart, including the comments in the previous post. I think hitops' ideas are all very reasonable except the part about the bike ride. 4-6 weeks and I'm ready.
I'd give up hoarding to have more stuff.
IBack to the title/topic: I am willing to give up my opinion for the truth.
wow. That's a good one. Scary. The truth has the potential to ruin some of us, or at least force us to move on to other things.
Sometimes I think that every piece of legislature put before congress is designed to invoke a compromise, and we do, we always do. Does anyone win? rarely. Does anyone lose? we the people do. We walk away from the negotiations table feeling good that we kept out all this really bad stuff but we forget what we gave up to get that, just a little bit ... See Moreof freedom. And next time it's just a little bit more. Like Jay said, it's all about compromise, the important thing is that no one is happy. I"m sorry to make my response to political but this just brought to mind how many of us are ok with voting for "the lesser of two evils". That's an idea I'm no longer ok with.
Sometimes I think that every piece of legislature put before congress is designed to invoke a compromise, and we do, we always do. Does anyone win? rarely. Does anyone lose? we the people do. We walk away from the negotiations table feeling good that we kept out all this really bad stuff but we forget what we gave up to get that, just a little bit ... See Moreof freedom. And next time it's just a little bit more. Like Jay said, it's all about compromise, the important thing is that no one is happy. I"m sorry to make my response to political but this just brought to mind how many of us are ok with voting for "the lesser of two evils". That's an idea I'm no longer ok with.
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