People Helping People @ MindSay

Two new things I've set up:

1. A piczo site click here to see my puny efforts as yet

2. A hotmail address: It's not personal so I won't be telling you anything like my PIN or password or anything: E-mail me @ mindblowingmint@hotmail.com

Any other ideas for publicity? 16 people is a lot, but not enough, plus there aren't enough people doing something every week.

This just in... Rev. Wright isn't running for office! This might be a shock to those of you who have got this impression from the incredible coverage he's gotten in the past weeks. The whole fiasco has been fascinating for me.

I think it is interesting to see the reactions to Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sound bytes. It is interesting to me because of what it says about people in general. They will condemn a person at the drop of a hat, based on very little information, and apparently they'll spread that condemnation around to others that have associated with them, mainly just the other person in the spotlight. He is just one of many people who have been made to seem like a  horrible person for his controversial comments based on a few snippets of their life. I just love how two-dimensional we can make other people seem while maintaining our own depth, free will, and critical thinking skills.

I don't sit here and pretend that I am superior in the matter. I'm as guilty of this as anyone who is likely to read this. Quite frankly, Mindsay is an illustration of this tendency. It is a largely impersonal medium, where what we write in the moment is likely the only thing we are being judged on. One sentence that we say can be a potential hang up. I'm sure there are quite a few people by now that don't particularly like me here on Mindsay, based solely on one or two things I've said.

In contrast, our family and friends can get away with saying things that we don't agree with, holding beliefs we don't share, and we still will rationalize and justify their behavior. At the very least, we are able in some way to drop it. For example, I don't deny that I have racist family members. I don't consider myself so racist, though I also don't claim to be as free of such irrational, judgmental tendencies as I'd like to be. However, I daresay my friends and family probably think I'm a good person and love me regardless of my faults. And, in turn, I don't think that these people are bad. All in all, they are largely good, likable people.

Based on the short clips of Wright's sermons that many of us didn't try to put into context, Wright was made to seem like an evil man that a Presidential candidate shouldn't associate with. That presidential candidate was then said to be a bad person because he associated with that man closely. Even though that presidential candidate never specifically endorsed the things they showed Wright saying, even though he pointed out that he is a real person with his own, separate beliefs like the rest of us, even though he is capable of thinking for himself just like most of us, people are using this against him.

If I had tried to use this argument with someone, I'd consider myself to be a hypocrite. I associate with all sorts of people that say and do things that I don't agree with. Some of them I look up to in many ways. I would even consider some of them very influential on me. That doesn't mean that because I regularly associate with them that I suddenly endorse their every word. It is, in fact, possible to associate with people without believing in everything that they do.

I'm calling for everyone to just be a little more realistic; to stop assuming that others are less capable than ourselves in holding our own, separate beliefs.  I'm pleading with you all to join me in trying to be conscious of the fact that we all have aspects of our beings that aren't captured in a few moments or sentences.

Howdy Howdy all! (Black Friday is Behind me and my feet are killing me! Strangely enough I still dig retail)
Someone asked me why  I blog. I thought about it for a minute and then the answer hit me. To unload and for perspectives other than my own. I have learned so much from other bloggers in the time I have been sharing my life online. I am thankful for that.
Today Myclette and I went to dinner and talked. We talked about the randomness of privilege and opportunity. I was forced to go over some of the particulars of my childhood. It took everything in me not to cry. My childhood was very difficult for me. I have worked since I could (16) and was literally burned out by the time I was 20 years old. I had no control over the circumstances of my birth and so here I am. I have read a lot of blogs lately that blame the downtrodden for their situations. That is some hard shit to read because I remember having NO control over whether or not I ate on any particular day. I was kid. I cant even keep writing about this. Mis-fortune is so fucking random.
A husband dies and there it is. Mom works non stop to keep things afloat. I remember wanting things all the time. The answer was always "no, baby, we cant afford that." I had perfect attendance because for a while if I didn't go to school I didn't eat that day. How was any of that my fault? It wasn't. But you can believe when I hear about another person going without I ache for them because I know what people think of them without even knowing their situation. We have to slow down on them sweeping judgments friends.
To be honest there is a reason that I don't post here much lately. Mindsay sometimes disappoints me. Well some of the bloggers disappoint me. I cant believe the kinds of things people will say and allow to be said on their blogs about other groups of people. It was really starting to get to me because I am lame enough to believe in other people. I actually think that most people aren't racist (I'll be damned if some of the people in this community didn't set my ass straight on this one), I even believe that most people care about the poverty stricken, that people want to help the displaced. Mindsay opened my eyes in a lot of respects on these topics.
It was breaking my heart and so I couldn't even write anything here.
My blog is public because I encourage discourse from other people with other points of view. I don't want a bunch of yes-men or a peanut gallery of like minded people who second every single thought I have.
Where is the growth in that? Of course it is nice to have someone reinforce what we say and think.
 but do we really want this all the damn time? I don't.
It is why you don't even have to be a member of mindsay to read my blog.
I want to know if others have had different experiences because to be honest we each bring to the table unique life experiences. So anyone reading here, should know that I encourage discussion even and ESPECIALLY if my views are counter to yours. If I have an opinion you can bet that my stance can stand up to scrutiny.
Why hold a view you can't defend? What is the point? If you stand for something then surely dissenters can't shake your faith, and on the flip side if you open your mind and your heart you may even learn something from another point of view that you never entertained before.
The point is that as an AMERICAN you do have the benefit of free speech but you should know that free speech is not an invisible force field that deflects other AMERICANS (who ALSO enjoy the SAME free speech as you) from saying something that contradicts what you say or think. Be an adult. Own your shit and when someone disagrees with you either clarify if they don't get it or just own the knowledge that they simply disagree. I suppose the alternative is to only talk to people who think exactly like you. And if you do that then you can pretty much forget about growth. To each his own, right?
You know I meet a LOT of Pagans. The majority are empathetic and highly spiritual. They are able to place themselves in the shoes of others and recognize how RANDOM privilege and/or opportunity can be. When they see others in pain regardless of the their color, gender or sexual orientation they hurt for them and work to aid and help their brothers and sisters in need. This isn't to say that other groups don't do this but I am talking about Pagans in particular right now (I am a Pagan).
I am always confused when I see a Pagan claiming to be such with little to no empathy for anyone who has not had the same life as they have. Quite a confusion for me. It also pains me because I believe in people (even when folks tell me that I shouldnt).
No matter what your faith I think that we HAVE to rely on one another.
We have to give a damn about injustice for others because we know that injustice can be random.
We have to give a damn when other citizens are hungry because Poverty can be random.
We have to care when someone is in pain because unfortunate circumstances can be random.
We did nothing special to be born in the US, this was random. Who would we be if we were born (remember that newborns are infants and cant work for a living and so are at the mercy of their circumstances) in a Third World Nation. What if our lives and traditions were antiquated and deadly to our health and survival based on the fact that we were born in a country older than The U.S.? Step outside of yourself. When you negate the suffering of others you are building a Karmic stockpile that you wont want to deal with. If you can laugh at injustice and hate speech then you should recall that fact when you are facing a similar injustice .
But know that when someone does mis-treat you that I will be front and center fighting for you as hard as I would fight for myself and That is what makes the difference.
We have to be better people to one another.
What if we are all that we have?
We have to be better to one another.
Feel free to disagree but  remember that I don't allow name-calling on my blog and I don't allow  derogatory terms to describe groups of people and so neither will you on this blog. PERIOD.
That said I care about what you have to say, even if you disagree with me. I'm an adult I can take it...
I love you all.
Goddess Bless

i'm kind of getting tired of people talking like they're above others. and of people that think they're smarter than others. and also of people that get off on insulting people with differing opinions.



just my thought as i'm cruising all the forums. i'm seeing it everywhere. it's really disgusting. and not to mention incredibly annoying.