It is the weekend, another birthday behind me, and a year of lessons learned.
Where’s it all going?
Our world is complicated. My take on our world is simple. A birthday brings about serious reflection.
I recently and oddly posted my personal views on Social Media and had a harsh backlash. Friends and loved ones don’t always agree with my perspective. I appreciate the conversation and I will always listen to thoughts different from my own. When someone spews words that aren’t their own, I am lost. Why can’t people think for themselves any more? Differences should not be discussed based on sound bites and faulty information.
It didn’t bother me much.
Because it was all sound bites, propaganda, and lacked any heartfelt pleas that were original. My many friends with calm, level heads privately messaged me, worried about the troubling argumentative combatant. They worried about me and sent me information and support. It was really quite sweet. Some of them probably don’t agree with my views, but they cared about my feelings and the way I was being pummeled with slanted words.
The exchange proved much bigger than the social question I posed. Our conversation spoke about humanity and respect for one another. I have really good friends, and feel very fortunate that the majority of them have soft spots in their hearts for my feelings and empathy for others. I wrote my feelings, and knew there was a possibility of an argumentative exchange. I realized pretty quickly the exchange would only end with a calm presentation of the sheer facts.
Well more importantly, it ended with,
compassion.
Ugliness, rudeness, and name calling never win in the long run. I learned a lesson about myself through this experience. I am stronger than a shouting match of differences. The compassion my friends showed me trumped any ugliness that was hurled in my direction.
I make every effort to accept all people, even those with opposing views. I will always be that way. I am saddened others hear leaders spewing hatred, and think it is a hall pass to spew their own personal hatreds. I can’t be silent any longer when misinformation and hate are being supported.
I hope you will be open to all sides of a story. Welcome a conversation of differing opinions, but you must know your facts. You must know your heart as well. Speak your opinion with respect and compassion.
“It does take great maturity to understand that the opinion we are arguing for is merely the hypothesis we favor, necessarily imperfect, probably transitory, which only very limited minds can declare to be a certainty or a truth.”-Milan Kundera
I’m just gonna….roll on.
Young Rival-Where’s It All Going
Young Rival is Aron D’Alesio (lead guitar, vocals), Noah Fralick (beater, vocals), and John Smith (lead bass, vocals) from Hamilton, Canada. They are an indie band with a new album, Interior Light, which released in October. They have called their music, “croon-psych”. When you listen, you get it. Powerful vocals swirl in psych experimental sound. The song “Where’s It All Going” steps back to the past with its strong crooning vocal strengths, but solidly pushes the musical edge with a pleasing experimental vibe.
Testing the waters, expanding the creative vibe, and learning from the past, all make us move forward and become the people we hope to be. Disappointment and setbacks push back, but our resolve, if done with compassion, can lead us into a new space of incredible growth. I refuse to stay stagnant and boxed in. I learn, grow, and cultivate my thoughts minute by minute…hour by hour….and day by day. Music does the same and I hope to continue to open my mind to all it has to offer. Young Rival is a band I connect with for sure.
This moment in my life is poignant and worthy of sharing. Just like this amazing band harboring an amazing, notable sound.
“Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence.” –William Blake
