Very insightful, Will. Biden is trying to lead by able example, Trump is trying to rule. The bygone values you speak of I see simply as values - so, I suspect, did people like Plato. I don't think honesty, respect for truthfulness, community, or courage are generational values, they have been shared by the true builders of the human spirit for a very long time now. Thanks for picking up the torch.
Very insightful, Will. Biden is trying to lead by able example, Trump is trying to rule. The bygone values you speak of I see simply as values - so, I suspect, did people like Plato. I don't think honesty, respect for truthfulness, community, or courage are generational values, they have been shared by the true builders of the human spirit for a very long time now. Thanks for picking up the torch.
I still see those values in the same places that are deeply divided like where I live. Just one, before I entered the grocery store I noticed a car littered with pro trump slogans & anti liberal ones. A man coming out held the door as I entered & then got into the trump mobile. I have encountered kind acts in venues devoid of political energy.
This is the brain-breaking thing, isn't it? I see it in a few members of my own extended family. So many people who are kindly in daily interactions are supporting truly heinous people in their quest for power. It's really hard to square.
My aunt has never been anything but lovely to me. If I was asked "Is she a good person?" I would feel compelled to say yes. But what if I did not have that vested interest? I think of voting/donating/supporting as an active choice. If she is still agreeing with and supporting people I think are objectively evil, that means her actions are making the world worse. At what point does this continuous negative moral act outweigh the positives? Like, what if you mug some old ladies BUT ALSO make everyone at the children's hospital a birthday cake? How would that work? Conversely, I wouldn't think of an otherwise horrid person as forgiven because they voted "the right way."
We are now having to morally philosophize when we used to just say "oh well, she has her opinions" and it is exhausting.
I wonder how many of these people hold their nose when they vote for the massive RINO & any one with an R next to their name rather than do anything but vote for a D?
Very insightful, Will. Biden is trying to lead by able example, Trump is trying to rule. The bygone values you speak of I see simply as values - so, I suspect, did people like Plato. I don't think honesty, respect for truthfulness, community, or courage are generational values, they have been shared by the true builders of the human spirit for a very long time now. Thanks for picking up the torch.
Well said. Leading by example compared to ruling by decree. And while leading, always following the path laid out in the Constitution.
"Leading by example compared to ruling by decree."
Kind of like you led by example by coming up with this perfectly succinct phrase, and I hereby decree that it is now mine to use in admiration?
I still see those values in the same places that are deeply divided like where I live. Just one, before I entered the grocery store I noticed a car littered with pro trump slogans & anti liberal ones. A man coming out held the door as I entered & then got into the trump mobile. I have encountered kind acts in venues devoid of political energy.
This is the brain-breaking thing, isn't it? I see it in a few members of my own extended family. So many people who are kindly in daily interactions are supporting truly heinous people in their quest for power. It's really hard to square.
My aunt has never been anything but lovely to me. If I was asked "Is she a good person?" I would feel compelled to say yes. But what if I did not have that vested interest? I think of voting/donating/supporting as an active choice. If she is still agreeing with and supporting people I think are objectively evil, that means her actions are making the world worse. At what point does this continuous negative moral act outweigh the positives? Like, what if you mug some old ladies BUT ALSO make everyone at the children's hospital a birthday cake? How would that work? Conversely, I wouldn't think of an otherwise horrid person as forgiven because they voted "the right way."
We are now having to morally philosophize when we used to just say "oh well, she has her opinions" and it is exhausting.
I wonder how many of these people hold their nose when they vote for the massive RINO & any one with an R next to their name rather than do anything but vote for a D?
Think of the Germans..........1933 to 1941.
"They never hurt anyone themselves in their whole life! They were just trying to protect their own family!"
By ratting out their neighbors to face torture and death for the crime of menorah-ing? Yeah, good luck with that pleading at the pearly gates.
Ha - that quote makes me think of Walter White on "Breaking Bad"! ;)
Will, I think we share the same Aunt, different coasts. Mine lives her faith, serving the poor, but an evangelical through and through.