Not feeling the greatest today, as I try and write this. Let’s face it, its flu season – and everyone gets sick from time to time. So there is a lot of water, orange juice and iced tea in my immediate future, along with a lot of time spent not moving around too much. That means that I have more time than usual to spend reading stuff on the internet. All the folks getting ticked off about a story on a particular news site about “becoming a witch in a week” or some such non-sense. Other groups of folks are in a ruffle over the impeachment proceedings against the President. Even more are outraged over a gun-rights rally that took place in Virginia, pick whichever side you want for the outrage. Me? Not so much.

I can understand folks being upset over all those things, as well as so many others. For me, I will keep my powder dry for fights that I want to spend my time on, such as combating climate change. Of course, that battle might be futile in the end, since there is some reporting from the scientific communities that we have already achieved the tipping point in the balance. Despite that, I will keep trying to help in whatever ways that I can – well, because I am stubborn. ::laughs::

There will be plenty of folks upset that I am not aligning perfectly with them on their cause du jour. I can completely grok that. I get upset when I hear people belittle the aspects of climate change. A much younger, far less disciplined version of me would be yelling in their faces, increasing the volume of my voice – as if decibel power were the primary way to get people to change their minds on a topic. Here, in what has started to feel like my twilight years, I have resorted back to an old format of dealing with issues – make my point, repeat it again to reiterate the point, and then move on.

Honestly, it has made life a little more lonely – since most folks tend to get the idea after a few attempts at arguing with me. I am happy to let other people have the last word. Especially, if it helps alleviate the sheer anger I tend to face for unpopular opinions. I admit, I only have so much energy to deal with long, protracted debates. If I had the constitution for that, I would spend some time and energy to run for the Senate of the United States, so that I can join the most exclusive nursing home in the United States. No, I reserve my energy for what I need to do within my own Spiritual practice, and other aspects of my life.

“But the loneliness…” Yeah, I understand that. However, its more a lonely process in the pseudo life environments, such as Facebook. I only share a certain component of my Life there. Not every aspect or moment of my daily Life is set there for viewing. Most of what I post is to share an aspect of introspection that I hope others might understand and see within themselves. So much more of my Life is experienced here, first-hand, without the aid of a computer system combined with an internet connection.

Before anyone completely flips out and thinks that I am saying that Facebook is a place of falseness or that the connection with other folks via the internet is a terrible way to connect with others – let me bring this point about. The internet and all the sites and platforms we have for communication are wonderful tools in which to stay connected with others, as well as meet many others we may never have the chance to meet face-to-face. It is a manner in which we communicate. You will get what you put into it, just as you do in face-to-face communication. I find these methods to be wonderful ways to stay in touch with others, but sadly – not nearly as effective as face-to-face interactions.

So, let’s bring this back around. How we communicate is important. The value we place on the communication we have is also important. How you spend your energy on that communication is also important. I could spend a few hours debating the impeachment process of the President with others. In the end, the chances of my changing the other person’s mind is imperceptible because the chances are so close to zero percent. I could spew my outrage over an article on a terrible perception of how witches and Pagans are perceived – but I sincerely doubt I am going to change anyone’s understanding of Paganism or even witchcraft (I’m not a witch of any sort – so my understanding is fairly rudimentary basic at best). I have no desire to shout into an echo chamber just to hear my voice. Rather, I would prefer to spend my energy connecting to the world around me – finding where I have commonality with others, even on things as mundane as Baseball. That commonality, when reinforced over time, may be helpful for changing perspectives in conversations when it really matters. In the meantime, I’ll be far happier to focus my energies on getting past the point of illness. After that, its the continued process of packing for a move away from my beloved southern central plains…

–T /|\