Kent Wayne AKA Dirty Sci-Fi Buddha, shared these profoundly wise thoughts that called to mind the sad failure of so many.
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If you can reserve judgment of worth (whether someone is “good” or “bad”) and simply assess each action instance by instance and grasp how to frame them as inspirational anecdotes or cautionary tales, you can cast aside the veil of love and hate, of heroism and villainy, of damnation and worship, and surf a river of useful information. I believe this is the most harmonious—and in the long term, stress-free—mode of being.
If I may drag this lofty wisdom into the vulgar world of American political discourse, I can offer an example of how adopting this approach to breaking news and events would benefit any one of us.
This Phillips/MAGA Boys controversy had people calling for violence and scholastic punishment against a kid who stood in place with a smirk or smile while an old man chanted and drummed very close to him.
All sorts of allegations were made against the kid and his schoolmates, while many were offended on behalf of Phillips and those with him.
So many spewed venom about this and when more context came out telling why people were in their places and showing on video how things played out, there were a lot of people trying to take back their words and reorienting themselves in regards to how they felt about the happenings.
I head some of these kids were doxxed. I don’t know for sure. If they were, that is wrong and I hope the doxxers feel pangs of doubt that will lead them to reject their radical tactics.
Anecdotes might be meaningless, but I’ll briefly share one now. I showed my 8 year old daughter the nearly 2 minute clip of Phillips drumming close to the kid and she thought it was cool that this guy and his buddies were watching a Native American doing traditional drumming and chanting. I asked her if she saw anything wrong with it. She said no. I asked her if she thought either Phillips or the kid were doing anything offensive to each other and she said no. I then told her that a bunch of people were mad about this “incident” and she looked at me confused.
I know she is only 8, but that means she approaches the world free of certain biases older people carry with them and some have internalized. She knows about the displacement of Native Americans by the White Man. She knows about the Trail of Tears. She is bugged that Sacagawea wasn’t given respect in her time and sees her as an inspirational figure. She doesn’t see Indians as helpless victims who live out every moment suffering under the weight of oppression. I don’t want her to. I want her to be open to seeing the world as it is and taking it in stride like Kent writes about in this Musing I that inspired me to share this.
Kent Wayne AKA Dirty Sci-Fi Buddha shared these profoundly wise thoughts that called to mind the sad failure of so many.
MJ Muñoz 