I Shall Not (a thought)

[lavaman]

I shall not retreat.

I shall not give in to the voices of anger, hatred, and fear. I shall choose instead, the only rational thing I can: love. Not love in the hearts & heat sense of the word. But rather, some form of respect. That I will not ask you how you voted last year before reminding you that you are about to drive off with your $6 cup of joe on your roof. That I won’t call the cops when your new puppy keeps me up until 3 a.m. For a week. That I won’t ask where you are going on Sunday. Or vote for anyone that asks you either.

I shall not yield my ground.

I will give you a wave when we pass on the trail. I will smile and say “Thanks” if you glimpse my tattoos. I will give you a nod when I am on my Indian and you pass by on your KLR. I will open the door not because you are a lady, but because I aspire to be a gentleman. I will bite my tongue when I hear your music. And when you reach for your wallet while you are in uniform, you may find that your money is no good.

I shall not surrender.
My beliefs. That we all bleed the same. That we can disagree, clash in our ideas, in our beliefs, without clashing with our fists. That we share the same pale blue dot. That we are all some woman’s child. And that one day, our hearts will stop, our minds will quiet, and our cells will burst. And all that’s left is what we did. The rest is just faith, hope, and all the other magnificence that the 3 ½ pound car battery in our skulls can conjure.

I know what it is to be brave. People think it is savage weapons. I’ve carried those. There is nothing brave about that whatsoever, and some of the time I was scared as hell. Real courage is silent. It whispers. And it seldom earns anyone a parade. Or even a hotdog. It’s not always the popular thing. In fact often it’s the least popular option of all. It’s just there, waiting for you to claim it. And if in my little act of defiance I should lose my life in a random act of rage to someone who lacks my convictions, so be it. I am still fighting fires, it seems.

We journey together. Charge the line!

©The Lavaman

[cop414]

Wow LM! I'm not quite sure what to say, very, very well written. Words to live by.

[MitchSteel]

Just reread this a few times.A lot of folks would benefit from this read.Kudos LM.

[Rock]

A Personal Philosophy
I won’t love everyone because it is stupid to love evil, and evil flourishes because some people believe they can banish it with love instead of strong resolve and continued resistance.
I will be called garrulous and opinionated because I will not remain silent when I see injustice and stupidity marketed in the name of expediency and political correctness.
People who don’t care will criticise me because I do care. People who lack passion will despise me because I have passion - I can live with that.
I will defend myself if I need to, and others if I see that they need and want my help, but I won’t defend those who don’t appreciate my help or betray me after it has been given. At least not more than once.
If being a ‘realist’ means that some will say I lack compassion then they don’t know me. My compassion is great, but it is limited to those who do not actively wish harm to me or my family and friends.
I believe in absolutes. There is black and there is white and there is also grey, but there is not just grey.
I know I am not perfect, but more importantly, I know when I am wrong and I am prepared to take responsibility for my imperfections. I try to avoid rationalisation, self-justification and self-delusion.
I am not a cruel man, but I understand what it means to be “cruel to be kind”. Sometimes, as with a child, it is necessary to be personally strong enough to make hard decisions because they are the right decisions, even though they will cause anger in some quarters.
Whilst I will hold to my ideals, I will always live in ‘the real world’ where ideals need to be tempered by an acceptance of the fact that others may not share them and that we need to find common ground if possible, agree to disagree peacefully if we can, but be prepared to oppose evil with strength when necessary.
Copyright The Rock.

[dba]

Originally Posted by lavaman

I shall not retreat.

I shall not give in to the voices of anger, hatred, and fear. I shall choose instead, the only rational thing I can: love. Not love in the hearts & heat sense of the word. But rather, some form of respect. That I will not ask you how you voted last year before reminding you that you are about to drive off with your $6 cup of joe on your roof. That I won’t call the cops when your new puppy keeps me up until 3 a.m. For a week. That I won’t ask where you are going on Sunday. Or vote for anyone that asks you either.

I shall not yield my ground.

I will give you a wave when we pass on the trail. I will smile and say “Thanks” if you glimpse my tattoos. I will give you a nod when I am on my Indian and you pass by on your KLR. I will open the door not because you are a lady, but because I aspire to be a gentleman. I will bite my tongue when I hear your music. And when you reach for your wallet while you are in uniform, you may find that your money is no good.

I shall not surrender.
My beliefs. That we all bleed the same. That we can disagree, clash in our ideas, in our beliefs, without clashing with our fists. That we share the same pale blue dot. That we are all some woman’s child. And that one day, our hearts will stop, our minds will quiet, and our cells will burst. And all that’s left is what we did. The rest is just faith, hope, and all the other magnificence that the 3 ½ pound car battery in our skulls can conjure.

I know what it is to be brave. People think it is savage weapons. I’ve carried those. There is nothing brave about that whatsoever, and some of the time I was scared as hell. Real courage is silent. It whispers. And it seldom earns anyone a parade. Or even a hotdog. It’s not always the popular thing. In fact often it’s the least popular option of all. It’s just there, waiting for you to claim it. And if in my little act of defiance I should lose my life in a random act of rage to someone who lacks my convictions, so be it. I am still fighting fires, it seems.

We journey together. Charge the line!

©The Lavaman

Originally Posted by Rock

A Personal Philosophy
I won’t love everyone because it is stupid to love evil, and evil flourishes because some people believe they can banish it with love instead of strong resolve and continued resistance.
I will be called garrulous and opinionated because I will not remain silent when I see injustice and stupidity marketed in the name of expediency and political correctness.
People who don’t care will criticise me because I do care. People who lack passion will despise me because I have passion - I can live with that.
I will defend myself if I need to, and others if I see that they need and want my help, but I won’t defend those who don’t appreciate my help or betray me after it has been given. At least not more than once.
If being a ‘realist’ means that some will say I lack compassion then they don’t know me. My compassion is great, but it is limited to those who do not actively wish harm to me or my family and friends.
I believe in absolutes. There is black and there is white and there is also grey, but there is not just grey.
I know I am not perfect, but more importantly, I know when I am wrong and I am prepared to take responsibility for my imperfections. I try to avoid rationalisation, self-justification and self-delusion.
I am not a cruel man, but I understand what it means to be “cruel to be kind”. Sometimes, as with a child, it is necessary to be personally strong enough to make hard decisions because they are the right decisions, even though they will cause anger in some quarters.
Whilst I will hold to my ideals, I will always live in ‘the real world’ where ideals need to be tempered by an acceptance of the fact that others may not share them and that we need to find common ground if possible, agree to disagree peacefully if we can, but be prepared to oppose evil with strength when necessary.
Copyright The Rock.

Lavaman and Rock. Fantastic!! Both of you!!

Our ideas are only given shape and meaning because we have experienced an opposite or lack. Without this opposing idea, we lose all sense of what we think and feel; our words become meaningless shells of gibberish.

Love cannot exist without hate - a lack of hate means that we cannot experience love, for there is nothing to contrast it to. Love becomes a neutral without feeling, unable to be expressed or thought.

Similarly, there cannot be peace without war, honesty without deceit, valor without cowardliness, or justice without injustice. Indeed, without evil, we lose all sense of what is good in this world.

Only by experiencing the negatives can we find the positives. The bad is just as much the foundation of our life as the good, and without either the balance will be destroyed.

...but that's just me; I've been wrong before. Probably just talking out my butt again.