Any one that knows me knows that I have no foot to stand when it comes to the topic of politics/government. I’ve gone through the first 24 years of my life not really caring about what goes on in our world or country. I had blinders on and as far as I could tell, life was just peachy. Now I had some idea what was going on, but I only heard what I wanted to and tried to ignore the rest. I have my beliefs and I kept them on the back burner. I HATED it when people would start talking about the up and coming election, or what was going on at the capital. (It was the same kind of feeling that I would get when I was little, I would go over to my grandparent’s house, and Pop would have CNN or Fox News on.) Even if I disagreed 100% with everything that was being said I kept my mouth shut. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I am horrible when it comes to being confrontational or arguing with someone. Not that disagreeing with someone has to be confrontational or lead to an argument, but in the past, I have at times been a bit too sensitive and taken a disagreement as a personal attack. Another reason for never speaking up is that I like to get all the facts that I can before I say anything (This has only come with growing older). It is an awkward feeling when someone questions the way I choose to believe and I always felt like any answer that I would give would never be good enough. I had to take a government class in college, and didn’t think I was going to make it out alive. It was draining all the life out of me. (I still have one left to take! Go figure.)
When I met Colin and found out that he was BIG into the politics and current events I thought, “Great...All of his conversations are going to revolve around what is going on in the news today and they will be way over my head.” Well, I was way off base. We rarely talked current affairs. He knew my feelings on the issue and respected that. Only when I would ask him a question about something I read or heard would he get to tell me what was really going on. Over time, my interest began to grow. I found myself reading up on what was going on in our nation and world and calling him to talk about it. This was around the time that the candidates for the 2008 election were parading around the country trying to gain support. I can remember being asked by Colin what I thought about the two nominees. My response, which I still feel the same way, was that it was really hard for me to pick one over the other, because to me (and please keep in mind that these are just my thoughts) it doesn’t matter what they preach they are going to, it is what actually happens when they get elected. My thought again is that the president only has so much say and then the rest is up to congress. There seems to be bunches of great promises that are made during the campaigning months, but they never seem to amount to much more than words to fill a time slot or to get votes. When a candidate actually comes out and takes a firm stand on some issue, they run the risk of losing the votes of the people that feel differently on said issue. So they never take a stand and they sit on the fence.
Now on to the main point of this whole thing.
In order to get those votes, people will say whatever they think will win the masses. However, they do so and they let slide what they truly believe so as not to dare I say it offend anyone. I did it earlier in this when I said to keep in mind that these were just my thoughts. I don’t want to offend anyone with the way I think or believe. WHY? Why should one person be able to stand firmly on grounds they believe to be true and push the other aside? Why should one person take offense to another’s beliefs if they are counter to their own? Isn’t America a place where people can have that freedom? A freedom to state one’s beliefs without a fear of backlash? Ok an example, I am sure that most have seen or heard something about the Carrie Prejean (former Miss California) controversy. Now I know that she is not perfect, but I am just using her as an example. She took a stand for what she felt to be right and true. What she believed in. Her response exploded all over the media and stirred up advocates on both sides. Again, I ask why? If she had responded differently to the question, would the nation wide response have been different as well? Would there have been any response at all? Chances are we would not have even been aware of her answer because it never would have made the news.
I think that this happens on a daily basis on all kinds of different levels. People say they are open-minded, but get incredibly close-minded if you disagree with what they have to say or how they think. Doesn’t that make them a hypocrite???? For that reason I think many people have developed a fear of offending, and we have become a wishy-washy society where rather than taking a stand we sit quietly in the back row almost asleep, or we just can’t seem to get out of the middle of the road. We’d rather walk down the middle rather than take a side. It seems that there is an increasing amount of talk about tolerance and open-mindedness these days. That’s all well and good until your point of view is contrary, and then there is absolutely no tolerance of an opposing view point and you are close-minded if your stance on an issue goes against whatever the other side of that argument believes. How do we as a society get to a place where we can be proud of what we believe and not scrutinize others for theirs. I don’t really offer any sort of answers for this question other than we all need to be less sensitive. If someone has a different opinion, rather than get upset because they believe differently than you, just let’em be. Why should it bother me if someone doesn’t like everything I like? And another thing, please believe in something, anything! When you do take that stand for something stick with it. For real, if you say something then mean it. Chances are someone will not feel the same way as you, but what’s the worst that might happen?
I do sincerely hope today’s rant has not stepped on any toes or offended anyone. :-)
Ronnie
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