Responsibility (December 16 2021)

 A society that values order above all else will seek to suppress curiosity. But a society that believes in progress, innovation and creativity will cultivate it, recognizing that the enquiring minds of its people constitute its most valuable asset."

Ian Leslie

My thoughts today;

Sometimes it feels like some vocal politicians and people are living in a fantasy world where "if we close our eyes it won't happen". 

What has happened to "What is Happening?" 

Sometimes it feels like people believe we are being "done to" and that there is a power beyond our control dictating that we are having a pandemic, that our social structures are breaking down and that climate change and wars are escalating.

When did we acquiesce to giving up our individual power?

Sometimes it feels like people believe he who shouts loudest is the winner

If everyone is shouting then Who is there to listen?

Sometimes it feels like freedom is our natural right

But if we defend our right by trampling other people's right what does freedom mean? 

Does entrenching ourselves in our beliefs constitute the best use of Freedom?

Does the opportunity to express our beliefs mean we don't have to listen to others??

Does the opportunity and availability of diverse information mean we get to pick what confirms our beliefs?

Does anyone out there ever slow down to recharge their brain and detach the closed ends of loops that are only serving to get us more entrenched in our own limited mindsets?

How can I ask these questions?? Because when I see them in people I know they are reflecting me. Because the only way to open my eyes is to start from within me. I am thinking out loud my own patterns, and I am trying to take responsibility for them and open my eyes, my ears, and my beliefs to ask questions and not know and also to take my power back by taking responsibility for what I put out into the world.

Bonus Quotes

You want to defend citizenship? Don't persecute or isolate those without papers. Just live like a citizen. That'd be a first-class way to be American.
Eric Liu

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.
Marie Curie

"All scientific work is incomplete - whether it be observational or experimental. All scientific work is liable to be upset or modified by advancing knowledge. That does not confer upon us a freedom to ignore the knowledge we already have, to postpone action that it appears to demand at a given time."
Naomi Oreskes

“While the idea of equal time for opposing opinions makes sense in a two-party political system, it does not work for science, because science is not about opinion. It is about evidence.”
Naomi Oreskes, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain

“There's no perk in being closed-minded as a minority. It's never, ever, ever going to help you, ever.”
Baratunde R. Thurston, How to Be Black

Cheers
Jeanne