Tag Archives: defeat

Defeat

Defeat: (n) an instance of loss; setback

A whole series of little words in a row. There’s no way you could know that.

I decided to take them all and place them under one banner.

There was “deface, defame, default.” And in there was “defund.”

All these words have contemporary applications and are being used to describe our dealings with national institutions.

  • Like the police department.
  • Racial relations.
  • And monuments as symbols of honor.

Let’s start with the monuments.

Perhaps it was a ragged idea in the first place–to build stone monuments to people representing ideas that might not seem as regal in another hundred years. Even though there were some noble intentions, the memories to such inhuman ideas need to decrease, not increase.

Then we have entrenched organizations, like the American police force, which are facing criticism verging on condemnation, because of the poor treatment some have given to areas of the human community.

In all cases, we are attempting to solve long-running struggles in one fell swoop.

This brings in many people with many opinions.

Can we hear them all?

Is it possible to find a consensus?

Or will one man’s honor necessarily be another man’s pain?

It is obvious to me that we can no longer attribute devotion to men and women who gave their lives in the service of holding others in bondage. Sometimes you need more than “meant well.” It actually has to end up well.

And some of these organizations are just getting their feet wet—and it wouldn’t behoove them to accept the responsibility of finding language which respects the life and times of other humans.

It is not easy.

It is also necessary that those who destroy property in the name of history be given a day in court, to clarify their actions.

We must now allow ourselves to proclaim what historically was racism to be patriotism. It is not.

And we must eradicate our tendency to rationalize evil actions.

In our hearts, we know this is the path to defeat.

Dale

Dale (n) a broad valley

I was never quite sure what was meant by the phrase, “Over hill and dale.”

I always thought it was pretty clever, in that old Army song, that we were going to “hit the dusty trail.”

“Dale” was one of those words I replaced in my mind—like inserting a space-filler.

In other words, it wasn’t important enough to look up, so I pretended I knew what it meant and moved on along, since it wasn’t that valuable to me.

Also, I’m not quite sure how the dale—or the valley—ever got such a bad reputation.

What do they say of a dale?

  • A down time.
  • A less-than-prosperous situation.
  • Or even an unfortunate defeat.

How did this happen? After all, when you climb a hill, you have two choices of what to look at. The sky or back down at the beautiful, green, grassy dale.

There’s something in our minds that tells us we have to be at the peak, instead of considering the dale to be our actual residence of achievement.

Doggone it, sweet people, let me tell you: Not all of us are able or prepared to live on top of the hill.

It is in the valley where the waters flow.

It is in the dale that the crops grow.

It is in this tucked-away, secure place that I can certainly find my own peace of mind, without insisting that I need to live high among the birds.

Cubbyhole

Cubbyhole: (n) a small, snug place

 Maybe we shouldn’t teach our children to play hide-and-seek.

Attempting to be invisible could deter the better mental health of our race. I know it’s just a game.

But I become very concerned when someone I know is looking for a cubbyhole–pretending it’s a niche.

That’s what these folks tell me: “I’m looking for my niche, where I’ll be comfortable and able to be who I am without intimidation or fear.”

Of course, there is no place free of intimidation or fear.

There really isn’t a locale where you can totally “be yourself.”

Therefore, setting off on a mystical journey may be what causes folks to become permanently frustrated or barren of communication skills.

The minute we look for cubbyholes, we’re trying to hide something.

Why are we hiding things?

There is always a danger of being arrogant. Normally, this is taken care of by people trimming back our egos through critique.

There is also the possibility of being loud-mouthed and wrong. But as you well know, truth eventually sheds a light and exposes all dirty crevices.

But through erroneous determination, we can find a cubbyhole and wrap some secret in a napkin, tucking it away and believing it will never bother us again.

Unfortunately, the shadow of defeat continues to nag, even when we have actually won.

Hide-and-seek is a dangerous game.

Because in real life, when we hide, people stop seeking us.

funny wisdom on words that begin with a C

 

Crossed

Crossed: (v) to move past

The quality of your life is determined by how quickly you learn the lessons of life.

They happen quickly and after they’re done and the immediate classroom has been shut down, you have to decide whether you believe what you just experienced to be true, or if you thought it was a fluke and next time it might be better.

For a pessimist becomes so negative that he or she won’t even try something new, fearing that all conclusions in Earthly life are doomed.

A pragmatist has favored ideas to pursue, but once those are worn out, he or she is a little bit depleted in hopefulness because there doesn’t seem to be fresh things on the horizon.

An optimist holds to the “bad day” theory.

In other words, there was nothing missing with the plan, nothing wrong with the planners, nothing askew with the organization. It was just poor timing or a little “fritz in the glitz.”

There is another choice, you know:

I tried it; I gave it my best shot. It didn’t work. This is what I learned from it.

If you do this, once you’ve crossed a certain rickety bridge, you don’t ever have to try it again later to see if it’s gotten sturdier. You can trust your instincts, respect your emotions, listen to your spirit, remember the previous encounter in your mind and don’t take your ass anywhere near that defeat.

funny wisdom on words that begin with a C

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Apart

dictionary with letter A

Apart: (adv) two or more people or things separated by a specified distance from each other in time or space (e.g.: his parents are living apart)

  • What separates us defeats us.
  • What we consider unique is really arrogance.
  • Birds of a feather don’t always flock together.
  • Culture is often just a cult of superiority.
  • Fear of each other is instilled and never natural.
  • Yearning to be left alone opens the door to sadness instead of awareness.

All of these statements come from my heart. Yet the entirety of the passage would be questioned by most people in our generation

Why? Because in our cowardice to discover one another, we choose to scatter into our corners.

Is this a problem? Is there a danger in remaining apart?

If each one of us was marooned on a desert island without supplies, with people from all walks of life, the necessity for communication would be required for survival. Yet for some reason, we feel we can stay apart in our world and still survive the prejudice.

This is what I know: Earth was here long before I arrived. Even though my brattiness would like to believe it will stop when I die, it won’t.

So since I’m passing through, I have three choices:

  1. I can fix something that’s broken.
  2. I can break something that’s fixed.
  3. Or I can notice what’s broken and help someone who can fix it.

To achieve all of this, I must interact with my brothers and sisters.

To embrace solution … I will need all of them.

 

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