It’s happened. I left all social media platforms last June. Getting violent threats does that. It was a good thing, in retrospect. I was spending too much time in a virtual world, reading about and talking about other cultures and people’s ideas and not enough time here in my own, real, present time. The reason for leaving was not one I had anticipated. I was asking questions that went against the accepted norm of “be afraid, be very afraid”. And I refused to follow the mandated, mind you not lawfully mandated (and even then I would have refused) but simply being told that wearing a mask was now the accepted social behavior, that all people outside that group endangered the group. Even worse, it came along seven months after the public was informed about a virus and five months after the initial lockdowns. How interesting.
But what is it that happened? I’ve begun to receive written notes, cards and letters, sent through snail mail, telling me to conform. I’ve kept all of them too. Some of them are sent with, I think, good intentions (The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. You’ve heard that one, right?) and some of them are openly threatening. Again, how interesting. The best I can say for all of them is that it is helping to support the USPO so good job guys for supporting all of those much needed jobs.
Am I going to respond to any of them? Only with humor or just ignore them. Some people were stupid enough to actually put their home address on the envelope. Again, how interesting. News flash folks. If something happens to us, my family or my animals you are the first suspects along with all of the screen shots I’ve saved as well as emails.
I’ve never broken any law, not even to shoplift bubblegum or to park where I shouldn’t. I have no traffic tickets at all on my record, never taken drugs (I don’t even take pain killers when I have a terrible sprain or broken bone.), never drink. I don’t lie, although I am a damn good story teller. But I always begin with, “ Let me tell you a story...” and inform people that it is a tall tale, something to entertain. I don’t gossip, although I have listened to my share of gossip without responding. Not sure that’s a good thing to do but I do listen because it gives me information about the person gossiping. Did you catch that? It’s the person who talks about others in a derogatory way that I am accessing and not the person they whisper about.
Basically I walk my own road. I love it when others walk along for a while, short or long, but I walk my path, not theirs. I listen to MY inner voice and not the finger wagging admonishments sent via text, email or snail mail. I don’t respond to people that yell at me, hit me with their truck door, throw things at me or come to my home to do damage such as bash a mail box. Kind of childish that one. We needed a new mailbox anyway so, as usual, something good always comes from wrong doing.
I admit I’ve watched what has happened in the world and especially our country with horror. People are incapable of asking questions, even so called well educated people. Instead they fall in to the “admonishing teacher” mode with an arrogance that is not unexpected. I would be lying if I didn’t write here that some of these people have made me cry. It seems that there is absolutely no acceptance of an opposing point of view in a country that has guaranteed the right to express that opinion. Indeed, cities have been burned, businesses destroyed along with entire neighborhoods, people harassed, beaten and even killed because of a guaranteed Constitutional right to follow our own politics, religion (you do remember that churchs were locked down too, right? People, at a time when they needed their community the most, were told that it was illegal to go to church.) and to express our ideas openly. Even worse it was sanctioned by small time bureaucrats. How interesting.
I’m not going to talk about the nature of a virus, the fact that it NEVER goes away. It will mutate but in some place it will continue exactly as it was. I’m not going to talk about the fact that viruses evolved before we did or that we are, on a daily basis, exposed to hundreds, even thousands of viruses. Our bodies build something called immunity. For the sake of people reading this who might not understand immunity, here’s a dictionary explanation.
Definition of immunity
What is the immune system?
The immune system is what protects your body from diseases and infections. It's the bodily system that produces the immune response to defend your body from foreign substances, cells, and tissues. The immune system includes various parts of the body including the thymus, spleen, lymph nodes, special deposits of lymphoid tissue (such as those in the gastrointestinal tract and bone marrow), macrophages, lymphocytes including the B cells and T cells, and antibodies.
How about herd immunity? Unless you’re completely head blind you’ve read about that, yes?
What is herd immunity?
The term herd immunity refers to a reduction in the likelihood of someone catching a specific infectious disease because a significant proportion of the people in that person's community are immune to it. If you are less likely to come in contact with an infectious person, you're less likely to get infected yourself. The people in a community can be immune to a particular disease especially through previous exposure or vaccination.
I am here to be a friend when people need me. But I am not willing to change who I am while helping. I have an inner code that I follow. I will continue to form my own opinions based on the answers to questions I’ve asked, the research I’ve done. I do love having online access to some of the finest libraries in the world.
“ Many are those who are my vigorous enemies; those who hate me without reason are numerous.
Those who repay my good with evil slander me when I seek what is good. “
PSALM 38, verses 19 and 20
How interesting. I opened my brother’s bible and it fell to this verse. I decided to do that again. This is what it fell open to :
“Do not plot harm against your neighbor, who lives trustfully near you. Do not accuse a man for no reason-when he has done you no harm. “ Proverbs 29 and 30
Again, how interesting. And one more time ...
“ The Lord spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people. He said :
Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy ; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it.
The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary ... “
ISAIAH 11, 12, 13, 14
Everything is always open to interpretation, at least in this country it is still guaranteed under our CONSTITUTION, the BILL OF RIGHTS, and even THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. The way I read and respond to the passages the Bible has opened to without me choosing and under this set of circumstances reinforces in a wonderful, mystical way the path I am walking.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I am going to make mistakes every day. I will loose my temper, hurt the people I love, make poor decisions. But I also hope that I continue to learn from them too. I am going to break eggs and make a mess on a regular basis. But for right now, the more people push at me to join their herd mentality, the more I am going to settle my feet, stand here smiling and, when I go out my doors, I am going to walk a path that makes sense to me. It isn’t my job to fulfill other’s ideas of who they think I should be.
You tend your garden, make your path and keep your well intentioned suggestions, or not well intentioned but vile, thoughts to yourself. And I will do the same.
THE FOUR AGREEMENTS :
1. BE IMPECCABLE WITH YOUR WORD.
2. DON’T TAKE ANYTHING PERSONALLY.
3. DON’T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS.
4. ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST.
https://stlukegirlscouts.weebly.com/girl-scout-promise-law-motto-and-slogan.html
Girl Scout Law
honest and fair,
friendly and helpful,
considerate and caring,
courageous and strong, and
responsible for what I say and do,
and to
respect myself and others,
respect authority,
use resources wisely,
make the world a better place, and
be a sister to every Girl Scout.
The Exodus version (from the ESV BIBLE)[3]
- “You shall have no other gods before me."
- “You shall not make yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God are only worthy of worship, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments."
- “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
- “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."
- “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you."
- “You shall not murder."
- “You shall not commit adultery."
- “You shall not steal."
- “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
- “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”
Are you beginning to get the idea? I THINK FOR MYSELF and I base my path and decisions on what I CHOOSE to, not what others think I should do. And I interpret what I have learned to DO MY BEST, to MAKE NO ASSUMPTIONS, to be HONEST about who I am, and to laugh at all of the rude attempts to change who I am.
I am, ever yours, Nancy, laughing at the way things go!
2 comments:
Interesting perspective. I know a lot of people who refuse to wear masks. I do, but I don’t care what others do. I’m surprised at how hateful people have become. So intolerant and so willing to turn each other in and to threaten. It has been sickening to see. Good luck and stay strong.
Thanks Linda! I’m glad you posted a comment. I hope you’ll come back again for a visit. If we lived closer, I would ride with you.
I am, ever yours, Nancy, smiling
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