(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
A Question Often Limits The Answer [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-05-11
Many of us, are looking for the answer to why.
It started when we were children with questions like, why is the grass green and the sky blue?”
It’s the racism, it’s misogyny, it’s religion, it’s ignorance, it’s homophobia, it’s greed.
This applies to those on both sides of the blue/red divide. Just using different descriptors, it’s those people, it’s immigration, it’s the other…
It reminds me of the Indian proverb of the “Blind men and the Elephant”. We all see a piece of the puzzle through our own lens, while distrusting all the other pieces.
Yes, the reasons have different meanings and the origins of those meanings come from different places, good and bad, but both are playing that most human of all games.
Fear can be all consuming. The fear of losing what we have. Whether that be the freedom we have enjoyed or the fear of being treated as we have treated others.
It’s all of those things, but it’s also much more.
Who are we?
That is a question that is more difficult to answer. For many, I would say it might well be out of reach. In my opinion, the difficulty lies not so much with the who, as it does in the we.
In a world where things have become complex, faster, smaller and more dangerous, we all end up desperately clinging to our chosen island of why, for fear of drowning in the mess we have made. The mess of humanity in all its glory and depravity. The human species has never been very tidy and to be honest, most of our attempts at trying to be tidy, have tended to be infused with authoritarian aspects.
I have no answer to the question, I only see a common thread in fear. The fear of loss regardless the worth of that which each of us might cherish. Regardless the origin of it. Be it from a dark heart or a more enlightened one.
I’m starting to think we might be better served to concentrate on both we and fear. Or rather the lack of we and the abundance of fear.
I know it is possible to push all the little islands together. We’ve all seen it happen. Mostly in reaction to a threat, Ukraine and Canada come to mind. Is it possible to accomplish this without the threat and the fear it produces? Are we capable of such feats or are we slaves to the fabric of our species?
I understand that a portion, if not a significant portion of our species may never be capable of anything more than fight or flight in the face of fear and that fight or flight has often served us well. But when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
I’m not really looking for cause and effect. I have found that framing things that way often needlessly narrows the available responses.
What I much prefer and enjoy, is to sit at each of the campfires of thought and listen. Possibly even starting a conversation that may bring new insight.
Thanks for reading.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/5/11/2321699/-A-Question-Often-Limits-The-Answer?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
