With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
This morning I would like to talk about commentary. I read the news rather than watch televised news and I have discovered at the bottom of several news stories a comments box. Also on the blog sites I post to, these are common. Commenting on things could be a wonderful way to discuss an issue, but this does not seem to be the case.
People who comment do so anonymously in the main and they do a sort of hit and run thing in the process. Everyone is a wit, apparently. Often the quality of the wit reveals much too much of the person posting the witticism.
Someone messaged me: “You are a disappointment.” I replied, “Sometimes we just have to move on. Disappointments, expectations, assumptions, all are grist for the mill of practice. May you be a blessing in the universe.” To which they responded, “Just more bullshit…”
What, exactly, is this poster’s point? Is it to hurt me? Is it to help me? Or rather, is it about themselves and their own situation? Does it really help someone to post an attacking, sarcastic, comment? Way back in college, my writing professors used to say, “Show me, don’t tell me!” Alas, some have either lost that ability or never learned it.
In defense of parrots, however, I feel we are being taught this sort of thing via televised “news” where “journalists” “attack” each other and one-liner talking points are intended to “bury” an “opponent” in an exchange, rather than open an actual dialogue. Blood pressure rises, heartbeats increase, chemicals begin to be released by our brain, and we find ourselves in some sort of pre-historic and barbarous mode. Of course ratings go up and people like Rupert Murdoch can make a lot more money.
So, here’s the thing, such comments are really practice opportunities. We can practice turning off the shrieking talking heads, we can write to television stations and ask management to meet their public service obligations by replacing such personalities with people who actually care about civilized life. We can sit with our feelings when we ourselves are attacked. We can write out responses then delete them.
Peace begins with our own willingness to be peace.
Enjoy your day.
Good Morning Everyone,
This morning I would like to talk about commentary. I read the news rather than watch televised news and I have discovered at the bottom of several news stories a comments box. Also on the blog sites I post to, these are common. Commenting on things could be a wonderful way to discuss an issue, but this does not seem to be the case.
People who comment do so anonymously in the main and they do a sort of hit and run thing in the process. Everyone is a wit, apparently. Often the quality of the wit reveals much too much of the person posting the witticism.
Someone messaged me: “You are a disappointment.” I replied, “Sometimes we just have to move on. Disappointments, expectations, assumptions, all are grist for the mill of practice. May you be a blessing in the universe.” To which they responded, “Just more bullshit…”
What, exactly, is this poster’s point? Is it to hurt me? Is it to help me? Or rather, is it about themselves and their own situation? Does it really help someone to post an attacking, sarcastic, comment? Way back in college, my writing professors used to say, “Show me, don’t tell me!” Alas, some have either lost that ability or never learned it.
In defense of parrots, however, I feel we are being taught this sort of thing via televised “news” where “journalists” “attack” each other and one-liner talking points are intended to “bury” an “opponent” in an exchange, rather than open an actual dialogue. Blood pressure rises, heartbeats increase, chemicals begin to be released by our brain, and we find ourselves in some sort of pre-historic and barbarous mode. Of course ratings go up and people like Rupert Murdoch can make a lot more money.
So, here’s the thing, such comments are really practice opportunities. We can practice turning off the shrieking talking heads, we can write to television stations and ask management to meet their public service obligations by replacing such personalities with people who actually care about civilized life. We can sit with our feelings when we ourselves are attacked. We can write out responses then delete them.
Peace begins with our own willingness to be peace.
Enjoy your day.
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