Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas
Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change. Confucius
How many of us got up today wondering why we can’t quit changing our clock ahead and back again every year? Pick a time and stick with it. If we can’t get our time back on permanent daylight saving, and I don’t know anyone who likes the switch, how can we make changes we don’t all agree on?
B.C. passed legislation in 2019 allowing it to ditch the switch, but it has not been implemented yet. Ontario passed a bill in 2020 to stay on Daylight Saving Time permanently.
One day this foolishness will be over, but change is often slower than we want unless it is faster than we want. How often do we think we are living with everything going just right? Would perfection look the same for everyone? One of the problems I think we have is when we start getting comfortable we find our comfort is causing other people’s discomfort. As they work to get more comfortable we become more uncomfortable and the cycle continues.
At our writer’s group on Saturday, the conversation on how to write about sensitive issues was so interesting we didn’t get to our workshop on writing. It takes courage to be a writer, but it especially takes courage to write about sensitive issues. As writers, we ask whose story is being told and do we have the right to tell it.
I wonder how many writers stories are not being told because they worry how their story will be received and so don’t put it out there? How many writers like me skirt issues they would like to delve into? Are we becoming a less courageous society? Ignorance sometimes passes for courage, and that is not what I am talking about. The problem with free speech is some will misuse it; the problem with not having free speech is everyone is muzzled.
All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. Anatole France
If important questions don’t get asked where does that take us? If questions get asked in a way that some will find hurtful, where does that take us? If no one asks the questions out loud, but whispers about issues where they deem it safe to do so, where does that take us?
Civilization is a balance of rights and responsibilities. We don’t live in a perfect society but do we appreciate how good it is, and how bad it could be? How many decisions are we away from it being better, but how many decisions are we away from it being worse? Do we agree on what would make it better, and do we agree on what would make it worse?
Most of us, I think, agree that being in one time zone for the whole year would make things better. It is a small change, and I hope to see it become a reality.
Other changes might bring more good. We won’t agree on all of them, they might not be good for everyone, and how do we weigh who benefits and who loses?
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. James Baldwin
In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or step back into safety. Abraham Maslow
It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines how you life’s story will develop. Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.
