No photo, just a holiday message   9 comments

Watching the news about various political campaigns around the world I am reminded how I loathe people who speak in absolutes. I know they believe that their words are more powerful if accompanied by ‘always’, ‘everyone’, or ‘never’, and to those too tired to think for themselves this type of speech has great appeal.  Black and white.  Right and wrong.  Don’t think, just follow.  But to those who still have the strength to question, those who yearn for and practice free will, to them these absolutes ring hollow, and thus these absolutes negate the credibility of even the tiny kernel of truth that they may contain.  How can anyone claim to know everything, which is the only circumstance under which one could truthfully use words like ‘everywhere’ or  ‘nobody’?  I know that life, history and the universe is not black and white, but a rainbow of possibilities, truths, and perspectives.  Unfortunately, many people are just too tired, lazy or incapable of parsing the multitude of opinions to establish their own, and instead they follow those who yell the loudest and who use the seductive vocabulary of absolutes, of demagoguery, of fear.  Because fear is easier to ignite than hope, and motivates people faster than love.  Yet love, of all things, is what deserves more attention, as it is the only thing that can provide peace, harmony, and happiness.  So this holiday, let’s not focus on absolutes but on nuances, not on differences but on shared origins, not on fear but on love.

Posted December 25, 2015 by Lutz Braum in Writing

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9 responses to “No photo, just a holiday message

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  1. This is Lutz, with an excellent perspective and a strong idea! Well said. Happy, healthy and peaceful 2016 to you both.

  2. A beautiful and resonating post. Here’s to a rainbow of possibilities and nuances where the motive is love.

  3. Wonderful post.

  4. Thank you for this beautiful post. May your hopes come to pass in the year ahead.

  5. Well said.

  6. If only more people would think and act this way- the world. would be a better place Thanks wor sharing your thougths

  7. Here, here! 🙂

  8. Pingback: Happy New Year! | Snapshots For Sore Eyes

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