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10.10.2013

90-to-40: When rights go wrong...

Day 14:
So many people have all the answers these days. Never in the history of man have so many people been so sure of what is "wrong" with everyone else.
The Democrats know the Republicans are wrong. The Republicans know the Democrats are wrong. The media knows what is wrong with both of them... as well as Paula Deen, Trevon Martin, the Kardashians and anyone who ends up in front of a camera.
Athiests know those who believe in God are wrong.  Christian fundamentalists know that Mystics are wrong. Baptists know Catholics are wrong. Skeptics know phychics are wrong. Psychics know everything.
People in small town America know that cities are horrible, dirty places. City people know that rural America is backward. People who live in slums know that they are both oblivious.
Gun rights activsts know that everyone should own a gun and pacifists are wrong. Pro-lifers know that abortion is wrong. Gloria Alred knows everything anyone has ever done is wrong.
Muslims know that Christians are wrong. Christians know that homosexuality is wrong. Homosexuals know that Russia is wrong. Russia knows that Americans are wrong. Americans know that Muslims are wrong. (Hey, look at that... full circle.)
The guy down the street knows that leash laws are wrong. Mothers know their children are wrong. My neighbor knows the Doctors are wrong.
I know that... we are all wrong. At least, I know that with every bit rhetoric that comes out of someone's mouth (or fingertips, in the case of social media) there are "absolutes" being thrown around wrecklessly.
I am sick and tired of it. No one has all the answers. The only things we can be sure of is that our experience in life is incredibly limited to our own knowledge... our own surroundings... and our own minds.
Neither you, nor I, may have the right to make grand, sweeping decisions about other people, countries, cultures, or ways of being. No one knows what is an absolute truth because... well... it may not exist. How on earth can you know the entire world? Not even the most evolved and enlightened individuals of our species profess to have all the answers.
We know what is right for us - and should have every freedom to express and live that truth as long as it doesn't hurt others. We know what is wrong for us and should have every freedom not to allow it into our personal lives. But this has become a world that us about "you statements" and not "I statements."
Instead of calling out what is wrong with The Affordable Healthcare Act, why not call out what is right? Instead of focusing on why religions are wrong, why can't we celebrate what is right? Rather than being so sure that gun rights activists are wrong, reinforce the things about their beliefs that are accurate? 
Why not come together on our "rights" instead of our "wrongs?"
Are we so incredibly fearful that we might be wrong that we can't point out what is right? Has pride and self preservation won out over the exchange of ideas?
I am done. Done, I tell you.
When I hear people touting absolutes, I only hear their inner terror at the possibility they might be wrong. I hear their insecurity and I see them pointing fingers to detract attention from themselves. The louder they become at professing their own "rightness", the more they show me they are NOT the voice of truth or reason.
As I grow and continue to evolve in my life, I will never have all the answers. I know what is okay for me in my life and I will take responsibility for my own decisions when I make statements about that. There will be less "you are" statements and more "I" statements. "That is not okay with me" and "I don't see it that way" will replace declarations of rightness and wrongness. I will call out what is right and what I disagree with. And..  I will most certainly fail from time to time, but these are now my guiding principles.  
The egocentric and childish fear of being wrong will no longer make me hide behind finger pointing. My own experiences in life will not limit me from listening and understanding new perspectives. I will not be so right that anyone with a different experience is wrong. What is okay, or not okay with me is still my decision. 
Our values are only right or wrong in our own lives... not the lives of others. I have the right to my understanding of this world, but I don't have the right to belittle others for theirs. 
Am I right, or am I right?

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