Last night, as I was replying to a friends' post on Facebook, an unfortunate conversation happened with another person's replies, and left me in a kind of 'meh' mood. It's not that I'm feeling down or upset, per se, simply that it got me to thinking about this post that I'd done about people's attitudes and facing reality.
To sum up what had happened on FB, the initial post was about the hope for Obama challenging an obstructionist Congress in the coming year. The first reply was a very polite one about the disappointment caused when the President signed the Defense Act of 2012 on New Year's Eve, which included a proviso for the government to seize anyone on suspicion of terrorism and hold them indefinitely without trial or due process. I'll admit, I'm not thrilled about it, but I decided it would only be fair to point out that it's not entirely Obama's fault, as that's the only version of the bill (which includes things like how to pay the military...) that cleared said obstructionist Congress, and perhaps more of the blame should be placed there.
The original replier clarified his position, as did I, both agreeing with each other on certain points, and then, apparently, that gentleman went to bed. A few minutes later, however, a very snide, rude, condescending and angry person decided to step in and vent his views in black-and-white aggressive idealism and terminology. Sadly, I allowed myself to be drawn in, and spent an hour or so trying to expand and defend my position without belittling his. When it became apparent that this person was in no way, shape, or form willing to bend from his self-righteous opinions, I signed off of the conversation and went to bed, to find this reply waiting in the morning:
There were other replies, including the original gentleman further clarifying his position, and I did reply to him, apologizing for potentially assuming he was placing all the blame on Obama (he wasn't). However by that point, I'd gotten tired of reading the angry person's replies to everyone, indiscriminately blasting the entire world for being wrong, hopeless, negative, and uncaring, and never once stopping to consider his position, so I simply unfollowed the post and got on with things.
However, it still bothered me. All day today, I've been wandering around just mildly discontent with things. I finished the decorating phase that I was in, making and hanging silk wall panels in my living room (above), but still felt itchy. One of the hardest thing in the world to do, in my opinion, is knowing when to walk away. I've gotten better about that, but I'm still fighting with being able to let things go. Not that I want to be right- because goodness knows there are plenty of times I'm not- but because for me, walking away from someone who is chronically unhappy is like walking away from a drowning person. You want to stop and help, no matter what you're doing or how nasty the situation is.
Unfortunately, the analogy isn't perfect. A drowning person will almost always be fighting for their life, and reach out for help. A person who is mired in negativity, however, hasn't had that awakening or revelation or whatever you want to call it yet, and doesn't see that there's any other way to live life, and they certainly won't agree that they themselves could use a helping hand. So they sit there and spread their negativity around them, not realizing that yes, if that's all you do, then the world is a horrible place. If, however, you change your outlook on life and look for the good, you will find it, in abundance. But you have to want to do that for yourself first, and no one else can do it for you.
It just hurts when we see people like that sinking in, and there's nothing we can do to help.
To sum up what had happened on FB, the initial post was about the hope for Obama challenging an obstructionist Congress in the coming year. The first reply was a very polite one about the disappointment caused when the President signed the Defense Act of 2012 on New Year's Eve, which included a proviso for the government to seize anyone on suspicion of terrorism and hold them indefinitely without trial or due process. I'll admit, I'm not thrilled about it, but I decided it would only be fair to point out that it's not entirely Obama's fault, as that's the only version of the bill (which includes things like how to pay the military...) that cleared said obstructionist Congress, and perhaps more of the blame should be placed there.
The original replier clarified his position, as did I, both agreeing with each other on certain points, and then, apparently, that gentleman went to bed. A few minutes later, however, a very snide, rude, condescending and angry person decided to step in and vent his views in black-and-white aggressive idealism and terminology. Sadly, I allowed myself to be drawn in, and spent an hour or so trying to expand and defend my position without belittling his. When it became apparent that this person was in no way, shape, or form willing to bend from his self-righteous opinions, I signed off of the conversation and went to bed, to find this reply waiting in the morning:
There were other replies, including the original gentleman further clarifying his position, and I did reply to him, apologizing for potentially assuming he was placing all the blame on Obama (he wasn't). However by that point, I'd gotten tired of reading the angry person's replies to everyone, indiscriminately blasting the entire world for being wrong, hopeless, negative, and uncaring, and never once stopping to consider his position, so I simply unfollowed the post and got on with things.
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| Things like this! |
However, it still bothered me. All day today, I've been wandering around just mildly discontent with things. I finished the decorating phase that I was in, making and hanging silk wall panels in my living room (above), but still felt itchy. One of the hardest thing in the world to do, in my opinion, is knowing when to walk away. I've gotten better about that, but I'm still fighting with being able to let things go. Not that I want to be right- because goodness knows there are plenty of times I'm not- but because for me, walking away from someone who is chronically unhappy is like walking away from a drowning person. You want to stop and help, no matter what you're doing or how nasty the situation is.
Unfortunately, the analogy isn't perfect. A drowning person will almost always be fighting for their life, and reach out for help. A person who is mired in negativity, however, hasn't had that awakening or revelation or whatever you want to call it yet, and doesn't see that there's any other way to live life, and they certainly won't agree that they themselves could use a helping hand. So they sit there and spread their negativity around them, not realizing that yes, if that's all you do, then the world is a horrible place. If, however, you change your outlook on life and look for the good, you will find it, in abundance. But you have to want to do that for yourself first, and no one else can do it for you.
It just hurts when we see people like that sinking in, and there's nothing we can do to help.
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