Category: Current Event

Eight years ago, I sat in a local coffee shop and had a fascinating conversation. I sat with a then newfound friend who clearly approached life differently than me. Funny. I sometimes think in this polarized, political state we now live in, we’ve assumed there are only three approaches in life: left, right, and the ambiguous, undefined — mostly a route that just doesn’t want to be included with the other two.

I think we are making a significant mistake here. There are way more than three approaches…

There’s a little to the left, a little to the right… a zig zag here and there… there’s a roaming around in circles. There’s coming at it straight from the top… hovering overhead… or maybe those who zero in from somewhere on the bottom.

Some come creatively… others analytically… right brained, left brained, or some dichotomy in between.

There are our introverts, extroverts, and those introverts living in an extrovert world. There are the cautious, the meek, and those who tend to barrel the rest of us over with their exuberance and passion.

And here’s what’s beautiful: each of those approaches is ok. All may fit with the way we are each uniquely, divinely wired. What that then tells me is that there are far more than three approaches to life… maybe, quite possibly, even three zillion.

As the coffee shop conversations continued, the Intramuralist was born. My friend and I learned together that sharpening comes when we are willing to respect, honor, and learn from another’s approach. Let me be truly transparent, however; I don’t think as a society, we do that very well. We tend to hold onto to our own opinion, embolden it by camping in the vacuum of likeminded opinion, affirm it via biased news and resources, and then wholeheartedly deny or dismiss the validity of one of the other three-zillion-minus-one approaches. We, friends, are missing out. We are missing out on the sharpening that should come from one another.

In light of that backdrop, allow me to get to the point of the today’s post. Today I’d like to introduce one of my favorite events of the year, our annual Guest Writer Series. This is excellent!

Recognizing that none of us have it all figured out (and that none are going to have it all figured out, especially when exclusively immersed in the likeminded), the Guest Writer Series is a small manifestation of the Intramuralist’s mantra… that we can learn and grow from varied opinion, as long as that opinion is articulated in a way that is respectful of those who may not share the opinion. Yes, it’s true; it’s hard to learn from the person who is shouting at us; it’s hard to spend extended time with one who knowingly looks down on us because of what we believe.

In our annual summer series, you will find some ten/eleven persons who don’t all believe the same thing; they make up only a slight percentage of those three zillion approaches. But they are each committed to expressing their opinion in a way that is respectful of those who may disagree. That, is an incredibly beautiful, virtuous thing.

You will hear from men, women, and all sorts of professions. You will hear from persons in the public and private sector. You will hear from all sorts of demographic categories. And, of course, you will hear from people who approach life differently.

Do remember, that the opinions expressed may or may not be held by me; that’s not the point. While I have often published opinion that I did not hold nor agree with, the beauty of the Intramuralist is the recognition that agreement is secondary to respect. We can be sharpened through the respectful dialogue of diverse opinion.

Hence, while this semi-humble current events observer enjoys a bit of a summer respite, know that I will return in a few short weeks, refreshed and ready to roll. We have things to talk about!

Until then, enjoy this insightful series. I say again: it is excellent! Why? Because we are willing to learn from approaches different than our own. Fire up for Guest Writer #1, starting Tuesday.

Respectfully…
AR

One sentence.

That’s it.

Today, we’re going to go with just one sentence.

Want to guess what it is?

It is true that the Intramuralist has a special fondness for the following:

• “Just do it.”
• “Let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ ”
• “Fire up!”
• “Give me a second sentence.”
• And, both “Who dey!” and “Boiler up!” (… go easy on me, please).

But today, after watching two weeks of conventions (yes, I watch them both) and being succumbed to the succeeding rants and raves on social media… watching people praise one candidate and tear town the other…

Watching the perceived increased racial tension and lack of respect for law enforcement…

And basically, watching the world go round, seemingly digressing in its polarized, intolerant state — an intolerance that exists on all sides because the one thing they aren’t tolerant of, is any legitimacy of the other side…

Watching all that, one sentence by a friend stood out to me this week. They said:

“We deny others their perspective because it does not match what we believe to be true.”

Let me say that again…

“We deny others their perspective because it does not match what we believe to be true.”

Whether we are left, right, or somewhere in between, we deny the legitimacy in another’s perspective because it does not match our own. We equate our opinion with wisdom and truth — and dismiss another as something lesser.

Friends, that dismissal is dividing our country, zapping our unity, and keeping us from loving all people well.

Whether our approach comes from the left or the right, we must quit denying what we cannot see.

Respectfully…
AR

I find myself pondering last week and the weeks ahead…

… the racial tension…
… the intentional ambushing of police…
… the Republican and Democrat national conventions…
… the attempted coup and crackdown in Turkey…
… more details surrounding the terrorist attack in France…
… the continued evil acts of ISIS and lack of containment…
… the awful rhetoric justified on our airwaves…
… the people who go after each other in social media…
… all who want to tell us how unethical Hillary Clinton is, ignoring any “unethical” in Donald Trump…
… all who want to tell us how unethical Donald Trump is, ignoring any “unethical” in Hillary Clinton…
… the tension…
… blinders…
… grief…
… and great strife…

I find myself sitting here thinking we are focusing too much on too little. We get so caught up in an aspect or angle, and then such becomes the only thing we can see or think about. It becomes the only thing that’s important to us. And thus, respect, listening, healthy dialogue, etc., they get thrown way behind on the priority back burner.

Let me be clear. By no means am I suggesting that any of the above are unimportant. Of course not. Each deserves our time, attention, reflection, and prayer. What I am instead posing is that sometimes we become so wrapped up — even in one thing that’s important — that we allow all else to crumble to the ground…

… We unfriend people… after a heated exchange, we suggest “we never knew them”…

… We justify insult…

… We say we don’t care who we hurt…

And then we do. We hurt other people. It’s the whole “mad as hell and not going to take it anymore” attitude. (Note: such attitude tends not to do well on the “winning friends and influencing people” idea. Just saying.) 

On my recent birthday, after years of desire, I was given a long coveted watch. It was significantly pricier than most, but it was a splurge by my spouse wanting to honor me in a thoughtful, unordinary way. Three days after his gift, still moved by my hub’s generosity, I dropped the delicate timepiece in the wrong way at the wrong time at the wrong place, immediately smashing it into countless pieces. I was shocked…

I was shocked and mad and teary and upset, and I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I craved that for so long!!

And then I lost it.

After an extended gasp and a quick call to my spouse, he (demonstrating one of the multiple, wonderful reasons why I married him), immediately reminded me to keep what’s most important, most important… Don’t let it take on a life all of it’s own… Don’t let it totally derail you… Don’t let it cause you to lose sight of all else.

Yes, I am understandably very sad about my once new watch. Even though material, it was important to me. I don’t know if we will replace it.

But such circumstance and all the justified, accompanying emotion will not stand in the way of those many other important things…

… that still deserve my time, attention, reflection, and prayer.

Respectfully…
AR

So it’s true… over the weekend was my birthday. Not the birthday of the Intramuralist (which, by the way shall turn 8 in November — which we will excitedly speak of then!), but my own date of birth.

A fascinating phenomena took place, no less…

Via cards, calls, texts, tweets, emails and Facebook wall posts, I was able to speak with several of you. That means a lot to me.

Years ago I can remember thinking something along the lines of… My time with each person on this Earth is limited… I want to make the most of every opportunity — maximize each moment… so whether at the salad bar in the grocery or sitting in those sweet and sweaty baseball stands, my desire is to utilize my God-given gifts to listen to and encourage whoever else may be there…

Maybe it’s the result of the strong, enduring influence by my parents and grandparents — including a wise preacher, teacher, and bartender. But every interaction is important to me. My desire is to encourage and sharpen well.

I thought about what I might wish for on my birthday… if I could wish anything…

Dream with me, if you will…

I want us to get along.

Call me sappy, sentimental, wishy-washy, you-name-it, but it’s my birthday; I get to choose what I want.

I’m truthfully not too keen on the idea — in this messy, messy world — that we can all somehow get along utilizing some of the more Band-Aid-like mantras — like, “let’s agree to disagree.” No, that doesn’t cut it for me. You see, the reality of the agree-to-disagree idea is that in the back of our minds, we know there’s still something we can’t talk about… You be there and I’ll be here, and we will never ever discuss that because I can’t stand the way you feel (… Hear the immediate “grrrrr” succeeding that thought…).

Hence, I don’t believe the agree-to-disagree mentality is a successful approach to our desire to somehow all get along.

So since it’s my birthday — or it at least was — let me share with you what I most want…

I want us to get along… by… respecting… where each of us currently is.

That’s it. We keep fighting. We keep speaking past each other. Our leaders keep speaking past each other. They and many of the current candidates seem to think the best way to solve the problems is to criticize and drown out the opposition, thinking solution only comes by winning more people to our so-called side.

 I don’t believe that. I mean, my sense, is if you trounce me to get what you want, I will lose respect for you in the process. That’s not unity; that’s a unified facade.

I want us to respect where another is by allowing for the so-called evolution of opinion. While no doubt some have arguably used said terminology for perceived political expediency, I admit: some of my opinions have evolved through the years. Some things have become more important to me; some have become lesser.

 But what’s so damning and damaging to our livelihood and unity is that we give no freedom for a person to evolve. We demand that they “feel like me now” (!!) — and when they don’t, we look down on them as if they are either ignorant, stupid, or something judgmentally worse.

Where is the freedom to evolve?

To me, that’s respect… recognizing that we’re not all on the same page at the same time and being ok with that.

That’s what I want.

(Yes, Happy Birthday.)

Respectfully… always…
AR

Just because we believe something to be true, does not make it true. Let me say that another way: belief is not synonymous with truth.

That said… emotions accompany our beliefs. But… since beliefs are not synonymous with truth, our emotions may also not be indicative of reality.

Hence, it depends what we’re putting into our heads and hearts.

What’s the ole’ saying? … “garbage in, garbage out”?

What we put into our heads and hearts matters. The challenge is that it’s hard to put in what’s actually true. We are inconsistent in our objectivity.

Take the current racial conflict, for example. How do we get to the truth about what’s really happening? … what’s an accurate perspective?

Simply sorting through a couple recent days’ headlines, I found this:

1. Injustices by Police Against Blacks Must Be Addressed
2. Time to End the Demonizing of Police
3. It’s Time for White People to Reckon With Racism
4. If You Don’t Want Cops to Shoot You, Don’t Resist Arrest
5. Why Black Americans Say Racism Persists: The Cops
6. The Big Racial Lie of the Anti-Cop Left
7. Enough Already With “All Lives Matter”
8. President Obama & the False Premises of Black Lives Matter
9. Black Lives Matter Is Our Civil Rights Movement
10. Black Lives Matter Spells Trouble for Democrats
11. Is a White Life Still Worth More Than a Black One?
12. Has Barack Obama Hurt Race Relations?
13. How We Got to the Brink of Civil War; How to Stop It
14. Racially Divisive Liberalism Comes Home to Roost
15. BlackLivesMatter’s Violent Tone Alienating Liberals Like Me

So tell me: how can we discern what’s true?

Driving through the Windy City last weekend, I saw one person’s bumper sticker that read: “TURN OFF FOX NEWS!” (… yes, it was in shouting form…). I get it. FOX is a known conservative news source. Here’s the problem. The sticker did not read: “TURN OFF FOX NEWS AND MSNBC!” It only called for the turning off of one.

MSNBC, among others, is a known progressive news source. If people believe that the only bias necessary to be turned off and tuned out is “only one,” then they are limiting what gets put into their heads and their hearts. There is thus an increased likelihood that their perspective surrounding a certain scenario is based more on bias than on truth.

Let me add that part of the challenge for each of us is that it’s hard to discern objective news and a consistently objective news source. Ironically, all of the headlines shared above are from a singular source (www.RealClearPolitics.com). But at least by looking at both the left and the right, I can form a hopefully more objective, accurate perspective.

Objectivity is key.

Still looking for that on a bumper sticker.

Respectfully…
AR

As I watch the events of recent days unfold — and even more so, watch people respond to recent events, sometimes wisely, sometimes not —  my thoughts are a bit in overdrive… “How do we solve this? How do we fix the problems? And what exactly is/are the problems?” … And every now and then a person avers with all certainty exactly what we are to do to fix the problem. They typically blame a singular people group. I contend that rarely, is a single people group to blame.

I haven’t yet organized my thoughts surrounding the events in Dallas and Minneapolis to a place where I can articulate them concisely and well (… I have noticed that others have also not, even though some have still qualified as social media rants). However, prior to these incidents, I was thinking of how often we think we’ve got it all figured out… “All we have to do is _____!” (… exclamation points always included…) And then we act as if we are so wise… we know so much. And I am reminded of the following wisdom…

“But you are a man and not a god…
though you think you are wise as a god.”

My sense is such words were not casually written, and yet, so much of me is quick to dismiss. I think…

Of course, I don’t think I’m wise as a god. What would ever give off that impression?

And yet again…

Sometimes I think I’m so right, there’s no way I could be wrong.

Sometimes I fully declare “this is the right thing to do” — and then entertain no serious consideration of varied opinion.

Sometimes I look down on other people… (… granted, sometimes I’m really good at hiding it… sometimes not…).

Sometimes I creatively chastise other people — maybe I’m clever about it — maybe not. And if not verbally, I may allow the disrespectful thoughts to flow fluidly through my brain. I often fail to take such thoughts captive.

Sometimes I announce my opinion in such a way that it makes others around me feel as something lesser… less valued, less respected, less smart.

Sometimes I don’t care that others feel lesser.

Sometimes I say I love and accept all people — only to love and accept only those who most often agree with me.

Sometimes I refuse to submit to anyone other than myself.

Sometimes, even, I think that “submission” is a bad word.

Sometimes I act as if unity isn’t important.

Sometimes still, I don’t give a crud who is hurt by my expressions… (…”If it’s my conviction, then I’m going to state it for all the world to hear, daggone-it…”).

Sometimes I just love to hear myself speak.

Sometimes I act as if I care about the entire world, when my articulations allude to caring most about me.

Sometimes “I/me/my/myself” are my most frequent prepositions.

Sometimes I fail to love others well.

Sometimes I don’t care that I don’t empathize with those I don’t love well.

…

Yes, sometimes I think I’m wise as a god. But I am not.

It’s important that we remember that now.

Respectfully…
AR

(Dare we wade into much rhetorically wrangled waters, allow me to humbly attempt to address the following…)

On Tuesday FBI Director James Comey announced that they would not be recommending criminal charges against presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. According to Comey — who is widely respected on all sides of the political aisle — Clinton’s activities were not criminal; they were, however, “extremely careless.”

The reason, no less, for my trepidatious step into this topic is because Hillary Clinton is one of those “hear-and-proclaim-what-you-want” kind of topics… For those who think she is as awful and evil as a radical Islamic terrorist, they will proclaim the vicious villain again escaped just consequence… For those who think she is as wonderful and selfless as Mother Theresa, they will proclaim the suffering public servant never meant any wrong.

Recognizing that compromise is not always wisest nor accurate — knowing, for example, that you can’t split a baby in half — allow me five takeaways…

#1 — Too much money was spent on this investigation. (Sadly, too much money is spent all the time in Washington.)

#2 — This was political. On all sides. For those who both fiercely support or oppose Clinton, politics is in play. I don’t, though, believe we can ascertain that statement about Dir. Comey. That cannot be known for certain from each of our limited vantage points.

#3 — Hillary Clinton is not guilty, but she is also not innocent. Comey contradicted her repeated claims that none of the emails were classified at the time she saw them. Clinton did not always tell the truth.

#4 — Intent is always difficult to measure; it’s so subjective, and none of us are in the head of another. Hence, an accurate assessment of Clinton’s utmost intent most likely parallels where she falls on one’s individually assessed, “vicious villain to suffering servant” spectrum.

I realize the above are challenging, given the volatility and lack of objectivity on this lightning-rod-like topic. Let me add, though, #5, my final, albeit still many-won’t-like-it analogy. Follow, my analogy from “March Madness”…

In March of each year, even the non-fanatical fan hangs out in front of their big screen TV to watch one of the year’s purest sporting events. We fill out our brackets, choose our upsets, and soon wad up the remnants as one by one, our selections succumb to the conference powerhouses and surprisingly mighty underdogs. It’s college basketball’s year end tournament: the annual national championship. Everyone’s watching and paying attention!

Near the end of many of these key games, there seems a desire to let the game play itself out. While a game might be closely refereed throughout most of the contest, as a tight game ekes into it’s closing seconds — with the game and fame totally on the line — the refs have a tendency to let the players play. They want this game to be won or lost based on actual play — not on some controversial, perceived to be major or minor development — even though the development is real.

The main player drives hard down the lane, attempting to score, and there’s clearly, distinct physical contact — it’s a foul. But what do the refs do? Do they call the foul? Do they blow the whistle on something that everyone knows is not right, but they know will totally disrupt the flow of the game?

The refs often… let it go. The assessment of how bad the foul actually is then depends on who each fan was rooting for…

Half cry out, “Are you blind?? That’s egregious! That’s a foul!!”

The other half confidently adds, “It wasn’t that bad. Everybody does it.”

In other words, the “no call” ensures the end result is not significantly influenced by the referee.

(Note: they do call it “madness” for a reason.)

Respectfully…
AR