{"id":6428,"date":"2016-07-16T10:19:51","date_gmt":"2016-07-16T14:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=6428"},"modified":"2016-07-16T10:21:21","modified_gmt":"2016-07-16T14:21:21","slug":"birthday-wishes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=6428","title":{"rendered":"birthday wishes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photo-1458175049065-aefb15b1b58b\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So it\u2019s true\u2026 over the weekend was my birthday. Not the birthday of the Intramuralist (which, by the way shall turn 8 in November \u2014 which we will excitedly speak of then!),<\/em> but my own date of birth.<\/p>\n

A fascinating phenomena took place, no less\u2026<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Years ago I can remember thinking something along the lines of\u2026 My time with each person on this Earth is limited\u2026 I want to make the most of every opportunity \u2014 maximize each moment\u2026 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\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s the result of the strong, enduring\u00a0influence by my parents and grandparents \u2014 including a wise preacher, teacher, and bartender. But every interaction is important to me. My desire is to encourage and sharpen well.<\/p>\n

I thought about what I might wish for on my birthday\u2026 if I could wish anything\u2026<\/p>\n

Dream with me, if you will\u2026<\/p>\n

I want us to get along.<\/p>\n

Call me sappy, sentimental, wishy-washy, you-name-it, but it\u2019s my birthday; I get to choose what I want.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m truthfully not too keen on the idea \u2014 in this messy, messy world \u2014 that we can all somehow get along utilizing some of the more Band-Aid-like mantras \u2014 like, \u201clet\u2019s agree to disagree.\u201d No, that doesn\u2019t 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\u2019s still something we can\u2019t talk about\u2026 You be there and I\u2019ll be here, and we will never ever discuss that because I can\u2019t stand the way you feel (… Hear the immediate “grrrrr” succeeding\u00a0that thought…).<\/em><\/p>\n

Hence, I don\u2019t believe the agree-to-disagree mentality is a successful approach to our desire to somehow all get along.<\/p>\n

So since it\u2019s my birthday \u2014 or it at least was \u2014 let me share with you what I most want\u2026<\/p>\n

I want us to get along\u2026 by\u2026 respecting\u2026 where each of us currently is.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s 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.\u2028\u2028 I don\u2019t 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\u2019s not unity; that\u2019s a unified facade.<\/p>\n

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.\u2028\u2028 But what\u2019s so damning and damaging to our livelihood and unity is that we give no freedom for a person to evolve. We demand that they \u201cfeel like me now\u201d (!!) \u2014 and when they don\u2019t, we look down on them as if they are either ignorant, stupid, or something judgmentally worse.<\/p>\n

Where is the freedom to evolve?<\/p>\n

To me, that\u2019s respect\u2026 recognizing that we\u2019re not all on the same page at the same time and being ok with that.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what I want.<\/p>\n

(Yes, Happy Birthday.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Respectfully\u2026 always\u2026
\nAR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So it\u2019s true\u2026 over the weekend was my birthday. Not the birthday of the Intramuralist (which, by the way shall turn 8 in November \u2014 which we will excitedly speak of then!), but my own date of birth. A fascinating phenomena took place, no less\u2026 Via cards, calls, texts, tweets, emails and Facebook wall posts, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “birthday wishes”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-event"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6428"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6441,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6428\/revisions\/6441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}