Tag Archives: responsibility

Agree

Words from Dic(tionary)

dictionary with letter AAgree: (v) to have the same opinion on something; to concur.

Sitting around a table on this holiday morning with family members I have not seen for months, our discussion gradually drifted from the mundane to the sublime, landing in the controversial.

We are a typical family in the sense that in many facets we grow together and in specific areas we have separated over issues, causes and matters of faith.

As the conversation had ebbs and tides from calm to heated, I realized that complete agreement was virtually impossible, but that the only way to truly acquire the kind of agreeing that leads to commonality and pursuit of purpose is to submit to a respected source.

Common sense is a great place to meet.

What is common sense? It is taking the precaution to make sure that what is procured, or even pursued, has the benefit and insight to provide for the common good.

  • Because after all, freedom without responsibility is merely another name for chaos.
  • And responsibility minus the inclusion of freedom is the institution of tyranny.

Yes, it takes wise people to agree–because tapping common sense to create the common good is only achieved by purposely pursuing commonality.

“Whatever two shall agree upon, it shall be done.”

Although we go through stages in our lives where we view ourselves as lone wolves, that profile leaves you howling on the top of the mountain in the middle of the night with an empty stomach, lonely.

We walked away from the table this morning a little closer because we realized how far apart we are in certain areas, but acknowledging how needful it is to tap the common sense that gives us reasons to agree.

Afraid

Words from Dic(tionary)

dictionary with letter A

 

Afraid: (adj.) feeling fear or anxiety; frightened.

 It was my favorite shirt.

I was nineteen years old and it was during the era of the counter-culture—hippies, rock and roll … well, you know the groove.

It was gray and had embroidered white velvet flowers on it.

I loved it.

It was almost too small for me, so depending on whether I was in one of my puffy weeks or thinning days, I could sit down wearing it with spreading buttons or with more comfort.

I didn’t care. I worshipped it.

I wore it at least five times a week. My criterion for deciding whether to don it in the morning was sniffing under the armpits to ascertain the intensity of its lethal nature.

One day I noticed that some of the threads on the bottom of the shirt had come loose. I didn’t think much about it. I just pulled on them and tore them off. After about two weeks of doing this, I realized that my shirt was no longer shedding threads, but had actually torn and was practically ruined.

At that juncture, somebody pointed out that if I had sewn up the bottom of the shirt instead of pulling on the threads, the problem would have been solved and I would still have my garment. (I continued to wear it in its dilapidated condition until one day I was walking down the street and a guy handed me two dollars, thinking I was homeless…)

The reason I share this story is that being afraid is a lot like being a-frayed.

Our threads come loose and we yank on them, pull at them, deny our feelings and pretend everything is all right until we have no opportunities left and we stand, clothed in unrighteousness.

Yes, afraid is when we refuse to sow up our fears and tie up our worries and instead, allow them to destroy everything we like. And even when we use noble words like “responsibility,” “concern,” “involvement,” “anxious,” or in some cases, even “wondering”—we’re just masking the monster.

I lost the shirt off my back because it was “a-frayed.”

If I become too afraid—well … I can lose my own soul.

 

Acculturate

by J. R. Practix

dictionary with letter A

Acculturate: (v.) to assimilate or cause to assimilate to a different culture, typically the dominate one: e.g. an acculturated Cherokee.

What IS a dominate culture?

I guess in this day and age it would be the loudest one–or maybe it’s the one that can get the most votes.

Perhaps the dominate culture would be the one that has the most money to buy commercials on television to promote its cause.

Could the dominate culture be the local color of choice?

Is the dominate culture what we feel in the moment, because we are wracked with guilt, teeming with vengeance or overwhelmed with responsibility?

Perhaps the dominate culture is just the one we learned around the kitchen table with those folks who sprouted the seed which became our lives.

Maybe when we use terms like “dominate culture” we are setting a bit of nastiness in motion which can only be resisted by those who object to such foolish wording. I am not suggesting that “acculturate” should be removed from the dictionary, but truly, the only acculturating we all do is the knowledge that we have arrived on a planet called Earth instead of a three-square-foot  space dubbed “me.”

So I can’t acculturate without recognizing the preferences of my Chinese brothers and sisters. And merely calling some nations our “enemies” does not eliminate them from consideration when we’re trying to find ways to cohabit a planet which is shrinking with each and every new advancement in speed.

This is why I’ve discovered that the only viable principle of acculturation which transfers from one border to another, is the statement: “NoOne is better than anyone else.”

Of course, that particular premise may eliminate the need for a personally devised culture in the first place. Since my ideas and your ideas have equal footing, there is no need to act like your ways are slippery and mine are on solid rock.

Do we really want people from Mexico, Central America, Europe or China to come over here and learn how to speak our language with a mid-western accent so we’ll be comforted by their willingness to be “truly American?”

Would I be willing to go to China, learn the language and imitate the local dialect? Of course not–because I’m American and believe that everybody should acculturate to me. And even though the Chinese outnumber us about four to one, it becomes their duty to be more like us rather than we like them.

It’s not just conceit, it’s just unrealistic.

The more we can find things that are free of taste and preference and are brimming with commonality, the better the chance that we will be able to talk with one another–or at least not blow up each other’s lives

Acculturate–I guess it’s finding the dominate culture by first realizing that it won’t be just ours.

It’s going to be what is earth-friendly.

 

Ablution

by J. R. Practix

dictionary with letter A

Ablution: n. the act of washing oneself, often used for humorously formal effect.

I just realized that this is a society FILLED with ablution. I think if I shared that in public, I would be greeted with great bewilderment, since most people don’t know what ablution means. But we are either constantly talking about cleansing ourselves to avoid disease and exposure to death and destruction OR we are finding ourselves with our hand in the cookie jar, wanting to deny any responsibility.

I’ve been working on this.

The other day I was eating some delicious shrimp when one of them fell to the floor. I quickly picked it up off the dirty carpet and consumed it. Moments later, a green bean from my plate also fell, tumbling to the same carpet … and I picked it up and cast it into the trash can, fearing that it was dirty.

I realized that I have selective cleanliness.

Also in that same day, I discovered I had made a severe error in calculation. I found myself running a catalogue in my mind of potential causes for this mistake. I came up with a bounty of fruitful ideas to escape my personal responsibility. I realized how easy it was to temporarily grant oneself absolution without ever being guiltless.

You see, here’s the problem–the shrimp was just as dirty as the green bean, or else neither one was dirty. And telling a lie about my own foibles only temporarily delays the embarrassment when others discover them and relish the exposure.

It’s tricky business. Sometimes it doesn’t make any difference. For instance, my tainted shrimp did not kill me. But sometimes you wash your hands of a situation to make yourself free of blame …  and you end up crucifying your best chance for hope.

Ablution

by J. R. Practix

dictionary with letter A

Ablution: n. the act of washing oneself, often used for humorously formal effect.

I just realized that this is a society FILLED with ablution. I think if I shared that in public, I would be greeted with great bewilderment, since most people don’t know what ablution means. But we are either constantly talking about cleansing ourselves to avoid disease and exposure to death and destruction OR we are finding ourselves with our hand in the cookie jar, wanting to deny any responsibility.

I’ve been working on this.

The other day I was eating some delicious shrimp when one of them fell to the floor. I quickly picked it up off the dirty carpet and consumed it. Moments later, a green bean from my plate also fell, tumbling to the same carpet … and I picked it up and cast it into the trash can, fearing that it was dirty.

I realized that I have selective cleanliness.

Also in that same day, I discovered I had made a severe error in calculation. I found myself running a catalogue in my mind of potential causes for this mistake. I came up with a bounty of fruitful ideas to escape my personal responsibility. I realized how easy it was to temporarily grant oneself absolution without ever being guiltless.

You see, here’s the problem–the shrimp was just as dirty as the green bean, or else neither one was dirty. And telling a lie about my own foibles only temporarily delays the embarrassment when others discover them and relish the exposure.

It’s tricky business. Sometimes it doesn’t make any difference. For instance, my tainted shrimp did not kill me. But sometimes you wash your hands of a situation to make yourself free of blame …  and you end up crucifying your best chance for hope.