Let this be a lesson to you, wait long enough and day 4 of ‘Foolish Things’ week will arrive!
The Right To Think
If you were online at all in the past year you know how intense many debates got about the Presidential election. I know this because I am a liberal in conservative Oklahoma. Say you like Obama and BOOM! let the debates begin! I had many very intelligent discussions with people of all political stripes. I also had completely frustrating discussions with complete fools who wouldn’t know a cogent thought if it schmacked them in the kisser. Those blithering idiots were irate, simplistic, irrational, unthinking, hateful, dumb, embarrassing and reactionary in their thoughts and words. And those were just the Democrats I agreed with! Those I disagreed with (mostly far right Republicans) who were also in the fool category were all those things and wrong at the same time.
The Right Fool
But guess what? Even among the fools I heard and read some truths. In among the paranoid conspiracies of Obama being a Muslim communist marriage hater were some bits and pieces of thoughtful ideas. Amidst the irrational hatred for Rep. Pelosi, Sen. Reid and all the other wannabe Marxist dictators were some nuggets of sensible thoughts. In between the anti-scientific, empty headed, religious zealotry were some wise insights. Of course it’s much easier to mine these brief moments of clarity out of people when they are rational, but even among the lunatic fringe the moments are there. Sometimes the fringe is right.
How To Know
How do we find what is right in amongst the toxic landfill of bad ideas poorly presented? It takes two things. One, a diminishing of your own foolishness. You must be willing to see how you might be playing the fool and retreat from it. Two, you must listen to or read entire sentences and paragraphs and pages of junk to get to it, not dissimilar to digging a mine through ton after ton of dirt and rock to find gold.
The Foolish Friend
Now, that isn’t all that necessary in a lot of cases because it is just some random knucklehead off in internetland saying whatever and really, who cares, right? But what if the fool is also my friend? What if I care about this fool? What if I am trying to find some common ground so I can sustain and nurture a friendship, or a working relationship. Then doing that digging is probably worth it. It’s how I find the part of them that is not the fool. The part that is right. And I can hope my friend is digging to find what is right in me as well. After all, isn’t that what it really takes to get along?
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who started drawing on napkins 15 years ago.
Quote by Winston Churchill, 1874-1965, British Prime Minister 1940-1945, 1951-1955
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Trivia question from yesterday:
What is the name of the literary competition (now in its 31st year) that challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels?
Answer: The Bulwer-Litton Fiction Contest. Named after the author of yesterday’s quote, it is a “whimsical literary competition that challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels.” It originated at San Jose State University in 1983 while I was going to graduate school there. Go check it out and enter if you dare!
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