Bane in my quiver...

I used to be challenged with thinking I was unintelligent; I still am at times. It's been a bane in my quiver since at least my high school daze.

"Bane in my quiver." Is that even a thing?

A quiver holds arrows. A bane is something that causes distress. Archaically, bane is something, typically poisonous, that causes death.

I guess a quiver could hold arrows of ideas. And the bane of thinking one's ideas are unintelligent can stop 'em dead. Poison.

One way I used to counter this bane was by thinking of my husband. He's intelligent. Why would he marry someone who is unintelligent?

Too many times I've given the benefit of someone else's knowledge/opinion/intelligence over my own, even when I know the subject well. I still catch myself doing this, and it irks me. Perhaps it's one reason I so enjoy the company of animals and trees.

~*~

I read political and current-event news; I seldom listen to it or watch it. I endeavor to partake in limited doses, but I still overdose too often.

Sometimes instead of reading the news, I watch it. My husband, John, and I don't watch enough TV to justify paying for cable or satellite. With an indoor antenna we don't get any news channels, which is nice. We could watch programs from those 24-hour news channels online. But we don't (though sometimes I watch clips).

When I watch the news, I like the PBS News Hour. I especially enjoy the David Brooks and Mark Shields segment, when I catch it. John likes it too.

On a side note: David Brooks looks like my father, now deceased. Mark Shields looks like, from what I can remember, my Old Testament History college professor at Montreat-Anderson whom I liked a lot, Dr. Newton, also deceased.

When we can, John and I like watching NC Spin and Front Row with Marc Rotterman, both on PBS, UNC-TV. The dialog and debate are respectful. Sometimes it gets a little heated, but we've never witnessed anyone go so low as name calling or treating another condescendingly or assuming the other's motives originate from ill-will.

John and I regularly discuss current events and politics. John lands in the Libertarian camp. I'm somewhere in the middle of the right/left categories. Ideologically I'd be very liberal if I thought it could work -- no borders, no guns, the lion and the lamb living in harmony. Practically, I know that will not happen, at least in this heaven and earth. Some of our species murder and maim and steal and treat our own with complete contempt, as if the "other" isn't worthy of the air they breathe. Many of our laws and regulations are needed because some of our species take advantage of the vulnerable. If we walked in love, we wouldn't need as many regulations and laws. If only life were that simple.

Anyway...I endeavor to educate myself on current events, on history, on cultures and peoples, on ideas from various angles. How much do I retain from what I read? Not much, probably. But I at least get it in my noggin.

In October, 2019, I think it was, I signed up for a newsletter that was just being launched at the time, The Dispatch. I liked it so much that in January I paid money to continue to get full access to their reporting. I look forward most everyday to The Dispatch newsletter in my inbox. It is conservative leaning, though some on the right would say it's not conservative enough. Some in the Trump camp would probably say it's not conservative at all; but rather that the contributors are "RINOs" (Republicans In Name Only).

~*~

The terms RINO and DINO (Democrat In Name Only) remind me of The Way and sticks.

Used to be that Way Home Fellowships were called Twigs. In the late 1980's when The Way began to experience some major exoduses, some of the people that left The Way started their own ministries with their own home fellowships. We folks still in The Way at the time called those fellowships, "Sticks." Unlike a twig which is alive and can bare fruit, a stick is dead. Any Christian outside The Way was considered an "unbelieving believer." A true believer stood with The Way, God's (true) household.

I guess a Way believer could say those "unbelieving believers" and "stick" people are "BINOs." "Believers In Name Only."

~*~

David French is a Senior Editor at The Dispatch. (And yes, I know he's an evangelical and, if I recall correctly, was part of the Christian Right in politics.) Every Sunday I look forward to David's Sunday piece, which focuses on Christianity and current events/news. He always includes a Christian song that has been posted on YouTube, and I most always listen to and watch it. Even though I no longer fall into the Bible-believer camp, I enjoy David's sharings and usually the music.

At the end of reading this morning's piece, America Is in the Grips of a Fundamentalist Revival -- But it’s not Christian, well...I was unsettled. It wasn't new news to me; this "fundamentalism" in the US cultural and political camps.

I have observed on media outlets and on (a)social media similar to what I experienced in the "cult" (ie: The Way) and then in the "anti-cult" movement. It was like two sides of the same coin. We're right; they're wrong. We're good; they're bad. Our motives are pure; their motives are evil. Black; white. No room for nuance or consideration that the "other" may be right, at least about some things?

I have lots of thoughts about the subject, and feelings which waffle about. At times I want to try to put into writing these thoughts and ponderings and observations. And sometimes I do, in my journal. But to put something together to post in public...well...I just don't want to put my energy there. This piece is probably as close I'll get.

The ever-widening gap in the USA? I just don't fall into either side. And I don't want to.

While reading David's piece this morning I thought, Isn't there a rising middle?

And then, "Middle" isn't the right word.... It's more like an oasis between the two fiery extremes.

That's the camp I want to be in. That oasis.

And I thought of some authors/pundits/folks I've discovered the past few years who are part of that oasis - Greg Lukianoff, Jonathan Haidt, David Brooks, Bo Winegard, Charleen Adams, John Woods Jr. and folks with Braver Angels, Scott Barry Kaufman, folks at The Dispatch, Brant Hansen, and others. (Hmmm...those are mostly men. Think I'll keep an eye out for more women.) I thought of John and our kids. I thought of friends, 2D and 3D. I thought of my Twitter connections (the only social media platform I'm on), most of whom have a deep love and respect for nature and her variety of species, including humans.

And I realized that that oasis does exists and may be larger than I realize.

I, for one, sure hope so...