Tag Archives: liberty

Adamant

Words from Dic(tionary)

by J. R. Practix

dictionary with letter A

Adamant: (adj.) refusing to be persuaded or refusing to change one’s mind.

I’m not.

Adamant, that is.

I used to be. Adamant seems to be a “wrong of passage” by all young folks, who think that clinging to their opinions is the best way to be grown-up. Such foolishness is perpetuated by political parties which refuse to abandon arcane concepts for fear of coming across as flip-floppers. By the way–I AM a flip-flopper, and damn proud of it.

  • Flip-flopping has prevented me from doing ridiculous things–twice.
  • Flip-flopping has allowed me to include other members of the human race that I once disdained.
  • Flip-flopping has nurtured a sense of humor in me about my own attributes instead of turning me into  a tape recorder announcing my abilities.
  • Flip-flopping keeps me from being adamant.

There may be those who think there are cases when we need to be adamant in the attempt to preserve liberty, righteousness or independence. But since I don’t fear that liberty, righteousness or independence are ever in great danger, it is not required for me to pick up a gun, hurl an insult or even “stand fast for my cause” while ignoring the pursuit of truth.

It’s why I can’t be a Republican or a Democrat. They are both sure. I am not.

It’s why I have trouble sometimes being a Christian. They are convinced that Muslims, Jews and all the other believing sorts are erred, and therefore dangerously teetering on damnation.

This has certainly kept me from being a suicide bomber–too many of my own ideas have blown up in my face for me to blow up for anything.

I am not adamant.

Actually, I don’t even know why the word exists–and any time I hear someone use it, I quietly slip away, knowing deep in my heart that those who choose that profile must suffer the punishment for their inflexibility. And what is the punishment?

You end up stuck with what you are, with no reinforcements of wisdom coming your way.

Adamant is what our society calls “conviction.”

To me, it’s floating along on the Titanic in the middle of a chilly sea … oblivious to the icebergs.

 

Abeam

by J. R. Practixdictionary with letter A

Abeam:  adv. on a line at right angles to a ship’s or an aircraft’s length.

The only trouble with right-wing ideas is that they make left-wing notions appear sane.

Nowadays there is a great thrust to take the direction, spirituality and even artistry of our country abeam.  We are trying to create a right angle and in the process ending up with ideas that are left behind.

It’s really quite simple–since we can’t go back and change anything and the future is yet to be determined, someone needs to have the intelligence to get us to pursue matters in the present. Without this, we have a tendency to go abeam. We try to play it safe. We try to mimic things we saw during our upbringing which appeared to be more righteous. Actually we were just surrounded by hidden sin, which is not that different from burying a turd in a cake.

On the other hand, there are those who think the best procedure in dealing with human beings is to allow complete liberty with no restraints, granting each and every person the innate excuse of “being born a certain way”–which forces them into a behavior seemingly beyond their control.

I don’t know if there is a left angle, but maybe I can rename that abomb.

So in an attempt to prevent us from going abeam–too much at a right angle–or abomb–a left turn on red–we really require some simple-minded folks who will just steer the ship for today, without consulting the manual from former times or speculating on which way the river will turn tomorrow.

Otherwise, I think we’re just destined to go abeam. Or maybe … abomb.

To do my part, I will honor three ideas:

  1. Yesterday wasn’t better, or we wouldn’t be doing half the things we do today.
  2. Tomorrow is not the end of the world or even the beginning. It’s just what we make it.
  3. Do the best with the supplies we have in front of us today.

This will probably keep us from going abeam or abomb.

I don’t know how popular the approach will be–because it’s not crazy.

And it seems that nowadays a certain amount of insanity is necessary to draw a crowd.