DECEMBER 2014 - The silence is broken

It has been just over two years since I last posted on this blog. I suppose I could make up some story about being very busy and overwhelmed by my move to Much Wenlock and blame the other trials and tribulations that life has thrown at me, but you would soon see through all that, as I enjoy being busy. So that would all be lies.

I have decided to dust down the old keyboard and put my fingers to work on typing this, my first and last post of 2014. It is tempting at this time to use the well-worn cliché about time going by fast and the years flying by, but there is an element of truth in both of these statements.

So 2014 is almost at an end. It was not the greatest year for the world in general and it will certainly go down in history as being a dark one for humanity. We once again saw the depraved depths that the human being is able to drop to. In this day and age, with all that the human race is able to accomplish, we still find ourselves embroiled in age-old arguments and absurd disagreements.

Clarity is still such an elusive thing and understanding always seems to be just out of reach of those with influence. There is still in existence the misnomer that the loudest voice is the right one. The more extreme/violent the action - the more justified it becomes. These are misguided ideas, yet many continue to cling to them fervently.

Religion has become the focal point of so many conflicts, with idealism and fundamentalism being stirred into one hot boiling pot of aggression and hatred. The rights and wrongs of these battles have become blurred to the point where the victims have become the aggressors and the aggressors have become the victims. While all this is going on, politicians stand back and mutter the usual condemnations and spout the same old rhetoric that we have heard many times before.

Most of the problems occurring now hark back over the decades. Many of them can be traced to interference by other nations. European interference and the manipulation of power and politics in other countries by America have caused many grudges to be formed, many of which are still bubbling away right now.

Imagine what the world would be like it we all held grudges and continued with the arguments that began many years ago. There would be no human being left alive. Tolerance and understanding are both two-way streets. One party cannot expect the other to be tolerant, if they themselves refuse to be that way too.

The middle is always the best place to be. There are many things I do not agree with, but I would not take my grievances to such an extreme that they cause misery and distress for others. I have been on the receiving end of intolerance and hatred. I have had to take abuse and even violence from others in the past, but there is a point where the here and now becomes more important than dragging all that pain behind me. People will always hate something, but it does not mean that you have to add to that hate. 

Sometimes aggression and hate is used as a trap to get an even worse reaction, thus escalating the problem and ensuring that it continues without any visible solution in sight. It would be fair to say that 2014 has seen a lot of these 'stalemate' situations and no doubt they will continue to be around well into 2015.

For what it is worth - I wish you a happy new year.

More posts coming soon... (Misterduncan)