The wisdom of experience
I have been carefully navigating this winter, with many different situations and events that require a sort of balancing act -- the kind of balance that can only be acquired with the wisdom of experience. To "experience" something can have both negative and positive connotations, and for me, it's no longer about stressing either/or -- because to be alive will require that you MUST experience both. There is no avoiding that.
Which brings me to what I was thinking when reading through my news feeds this morning: it seems that over the weekend, we are all aware of the thousands of women (and quasi women) throwing a collective temper tantrum about being oppressed in this country. I find this laughable, and at the same time, very sad. I think these people are spoiled, mentally deranged adult infants that have not truly experienced much of the world outside of the borders of this country. As a world traveler, I've traveled solo into countries where women are literally regarding as less than livestock. I've seen people in hopeless squalor. I've seen living conditions so terrible, within governments so terribly oppressive, it made me question everything I ever held as logical -- WHY? And yet, these people persist -- and WANT to be alive. WHY? The only truth I could derive from it all is this: Life is always, in and of itself, good and beautiful and a gift. The human race may do terrible things to each other and to our selves, but the gift of life is still a good gift, even in the midst of sometimes intense suffering. The people of these depressed countries understand that. I understood that too, by being with them, and it was both humbling and sobering.
So, when I see spoiled middle-aged brats, wearing pink "pussy" hats (that would get them stoned to death in many other countries) throwing a collective temper tantrum in the streets of their First World country -- I just have to snicker and shake my head. These people DO NOT represent me -- and I can say that with the 100% certainty of experience.