Silence for the Fool

There are times when Silence is appropriate.
Most people think of silence as quiet time, such as while watching a movie, reading a book, or meditating. These are all appropriate times for silence, a mannerism that is suggestive of the event itself and respected by onlookers as much as those in the 'moment'. However, there are times when silence is warranted, appropriate even, but not desired. I am talking about the times when silence is the only way to get your point across or when silence is the only way to keep from escalating a situation into negativity.

I have a hard time being silent in the face of negativity or malice. Those are the times when my mind runs around in circles and I am more inclined to help someone put their foot in their mouth, pushing until they are eating up to their knee. The irony to me is that most people don't realize that they are fighting against an undeniable truth or an ideology that they are failing to disprove. Usually it's those times that topics are derailed and bunny trails become as numerous as American Highways, the people finding the importance of the bunny trails also finding themselves speeding down them as if they are in a hurry to get somewhere.

With my recent discussions with people who are totally against my conclusions of reality, which are based on experience and what science can prove, I have found it very disturbing that I have to admit that I'm dealing with foolishness.
I am against the idea that any individual be completely open minded. I believe in the power of listening and civil disagreement, but I can not say that having an open mind is always beneficial. It really depends on the situation and what having an open mind means. If by having an open mind I am to disregard all notions of confirmed truth in favor of hearing someone ramble about the voracity of lies, then I have an obligation to let them know I simply do not agree and why. I don't have to be pessimistic, degrading, or otherwise unresponsive. However, some people do not understand the value of agreeing to disagree and moving on. It is during these times that I have to maintain Silence for the Fool.

To call someone a Fool is not desirable. I don't like it and I don't think it is a good choice of words, but there comes a time when that's the only thing going through my head. It resounds in my heart for a reason, a reason that leaves me unsettled about the conversation and distraught with the inability to end the conversation so that I can focus my energy on being compassionate.
For the people who must have the last word, silence is the best form of gentle revenge. Maybe revenge is a misnomer for what is truly taking place, but I have no better way of explaining my feelings coupled with my intent. As my intent is to let the last words be left in the mouth of the other person, meaning I don't confirm agreement or disagreement even though it may be completely perceived as agreement. As the intent is to let the person find out the truth regardless of their memory to recall my words in any exactness of what was said.

These times come up a lot when dealing with certain topics. The problem isn't a lack of civility, it is a total presence of Cognitive Dissonance. Something of which I have to accept the possibility that I may be going through also. The ironic thing to me is that I go through it more when I'm presented with information that I have knowledge on, even though it may be incomplete and working against my ability to understand new information. So the essence of my silence is that I look at myself as being the Fool when I realize I'm arguing/defending information that is faulty. The rejection of a rebuttal is when I feel I am being open minded, even if not easily persuaded from my deductions.

I used to get really frustrated with having to be silent so I could practice the art of listening.
My moments of frustration are heightened when I am truly trying to have certain questions answered and I am mocked for it. After all, who likes to be told their wrong, try to accept new information patiently and openly, then be mocked for not knowing certain facts that aren't absolutely obvious?
Humility, patience, and gentleness are great allies in those times..

Despite the appropriateness for working to agreement, there are times when we have to face the stark reality that there wont be an agreement or civil disagreement. So it is best to be silent and thought of as a fool than to open our mouths and remove all doubt.

A Hard Head Makes a Soft Butt

Who has heard of that saying?
I have and I have certainly experienced what it means.
Granted, I am one stubborn dude in many ways that I'd rather not get into.

I don't look at discipline as some force of evil or the harbinger of failure. There's different kinds of discipline in my book, the only kind that should be feared is that from people who have no interest in you maturing through the process. The only reason why I think those kind of people should be feared is because they get into a position of authority and make sure that anything you can be chastised for you suffer the full extent of their wrath in a unfair and cruel sense.
At that point, I wouldn't even call it punishment.. I'd call it torture.
We all have experienced at least one person who is on a power trip, seems to harbor some deep rooted hatred, and listens to your apologies as much as nails scratching across a chalk board. In fact, it would almost seem that our existence to this particular person is malicious to their own existence.

However, the street goes both ways.

We've also dealt with that person who is so unbelievably stubborn that we wonder how they were even pushed out of the womb without the doctors calling in the Fire brigade with the "jaws of life".
These people seem to revel in discipline, so it would seem, because you can tell them what they should and shouldn't do and it's like every word is perceived but it's like trying to get water to soak into a rock. Though it isn't as bad when you're dealing with a person who doesn't groan over every mistake they could have prevented had they took the time to be a sponge instead of a rock.
I myself am the latter, I am stubborn and sometimes I am very receptive to advice.. However, I do not gripe about my losses often. I am very resolved with them in most cases, usually I'm only troubled by that which I have no control over.

Plenty of times in life I have found out the folly of my ways the hard way. I have learned a lot from being able to pick back up and continue in life, with new understanding of why my situation had gone bad. Sometimes more than others, I learned the folly of other people's ways regardless of if or how it affected me personally.
And what else would it matter if I didn't learn things consciously? Most of what we experience is inevitably stored in our subconscious for the constant beat down of our emotions throughout life. It's just that few people in this world learn to stop taking the abuse of their subconscious and even fewer people learn how to sort through what's in it and literally reprogram it to suit their needs.
I can say I am part of those few.. That is, when I'm not willingly evading what is stored up in my subconscious because I'm pretty much giving up on the fight against myself to better myself.

Life has an interesting way with teaching lessons.
I think it is important to take it seriously as much as possible.. Mostly because we don't know what the reason is for going through this process of maturing in every aspect of our existence. Personally, I think there is a design behind it all and it isn't going to stop with death. That's my opinion based on my intuition and it is primarily formed through my experiences and observations of this World and the Universe as a whole; where anyone disagrees is a matter of subjectivity unless you can explain why every living thing is subject to a process of maturity and the law of entropy, simultaneously defying and being defied by the other.

Finally.. There's this little problem I see in the world that is plaguing modern society, and humanity yet again. It isn't the first time the plateau is reached in terms of a society becoming decadent because of the problem, however the problem manifests in various ways and only seems to grow in variance as humanity grows in sophistication in the world.
I am referring to the pursuit of happiness.
Quite frankly I believe that happiness is important to a degree. Total happiness is a farce if you talk about it outside of a state of being that's developed by conscious choice despite circumstances. When people say, "do whatever makes you happy" they set individuals up to perceive happiness as a way of life regardless of the method to get to the means.. I am filled with discontent at that kind of thinking because of what I see people do to obtain that state of being that can be done in the mind alone. Especially since so many people destroy their bodies, minds, and emotions in their frivolous pursuit of an external object to incite an internally occurring phenomenon; as I said, it is something that is of choice and can exist purely as just a choice.
So what do you tell someone that their pursuit for happiness made their external actions reap the harvest of Pain inevitably? Shall you say that their pain is their happiness? Maybe if they are masochistic.. Then again, even people like that I look further into the past so see if they were conditioned to think in such a manner or if they were truly born masochistic.
Regardless, my questions mean nothing in light of the average person and the point I'm making about discipline.

Life is not a place of constant happiness that's determined by how many rainbows, singing birds or sugary treats surrounding us. It is not a constant upheaval of good things either. Life is a myriad of things, a diverse cornucopia of good and bad and neutral. Whatever the original design of the Universe was, is still relevant now. Whatever has been added that shouldn't be, by whatever source with the authority to do so, is irrelevant when an individual has to decide how they will make a difference in anything.
All that matters is that each individual be given the chance to change. I would say that every individual should be disciplined.. However, there's no need if nothing needs to be changed. So let us focus more on the idea that we humans should put our energy into changing ourselves instead of trying to change everything else around us.

True change comes from within.
Fight it and you'll find your hard head led to a tenderized behind.

Don't Compromise Justice

Why, in all that is possibly good in this world, would anyone want to sit down during a Crisis?

I have been asking myself this question most of my life, yet I never get a good response since I am stuck wondering if the paralyzing effects of fear is based on perception of a situation or just cowardice. There were a few situations in my life where I didn't stand a chance in a violent scenario yet I refused to back down. Those situations could have ended up much worse than they actually did.. Perhaps it was a matter of divine intervention or just my aura made a difference?
Regardless, I find it amazingly disconcerting that some individuals would rather put their safety in the hands of someone or something that will bail them out of the hot water. This includes anyone seeking divine intervention for all their troubles in life.

I am not one to advocate a full adherence to self-sufficiency, but I can't help but advocate that people be more gutsy in their actions. This is important in most situations and the variances to them, ranging from school work all the way to being on the battlefield as a soldier.
My motto is that you can't save a life sitting down coaching from the sidelines. It is one thing to be limited to how you interact with someone, but it is a completely different thing to refuse to take any risks. The back-breaking work of our respected ancestors wasn't done by putting safety as a precept for non life-threatening scenarios. In fact, some of the greatest achievements by individuals has come because of the disregard for safety; that isn't to say that respecting safety standards hasn't kept sophisticated minds from disaster though.

Now let's take a look at uniformed personnel, the ones who aren't corrupt that is, who make safety a priority for others while risking everything to do so. I especially like Firefighters since they are a group of hired safety men who literally risk everything whenever in action. An easy example where I don't have to go to extremes to make a point with logical fallacies, not to forget the low corruptibility of the job itself.
When I look back at the historical events I have been alive to witness, I can think of dozens of events where Firefighters have lost their lives while lowering the total number of casualties of those particular scenarios. The terrorist attacks of September 11th in New York is the best example of heroism in a crisis. Especially with such an out-of-the-box thinking intensity that no one could possibly know what is about to happen next. Heck, for all it's worth, I'm sure some people assumed what was going on was more than a terrorist attack.
Instead of ranting about what I think I know of the events, I'll just focus on the unsurprising fact that many Firefighters saved lives while loosing their own, not that they were the only uniformed individuals who did. The act of valor of all those people has been immortalized by the simple fact that they ran in, standing tall, during a crisis.

Now here's the meat of my point in it's succulent entirety.

The saying goes, "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything" and we hear it most from cowards. Yes, I'm talking about people who wont even die for those they truly love let alone a complete stranger. These same people cry about milk spilled on the counter top by their own elbow, begging for people to understand their emotional suffering, all while demanding others live their lives in acts of heroism. Then when it is time to make a further stand for justice, these same people turn a blind eye to confrontation in the name of some self-righteous sense of compassion.

Now don't confuse my words for saying that anyone who doesn't act when trouble comes is a coward.. And certainly don't confuse my words for saying what justice is. What I'm saying is that there is this entitlement mentality to many people, the same ones posting about Soldier's being honored yet no compassion is shown to them when a War they're in becomes unpopular. Also I'm talking about the people who cry rivers of tears over situations they were in full control over, the sobs centered around the absence of the knight in shining armor to show strength in nobility.
They are everywhere... The first Matrix movie made a point to acknowledge what these kinds of people are like and how they are nothing more than parasitic prisoners to a tyrannical host that uses them for sustenance. Oh how the Irony kills me intellectually...

Justice must not be compromised. We must not sit during a crisis. If we do, we will never prevail in our darkest hours let alone times of relative peace.

People are getting too soft when it comes down to being hardened against evil, we need to regain our tempered edge against it and hone that edge so that we cut through injustice like a hot knife through butter.
Otherwise we may as well just say goodbye to everything standing between us, including everyone we love, and inevitable doom.

Mental Health

How often do we consider our mental health?
 
In the case that we do at all, how honest are we about what could be afflicting us?

Often I ask myself,

"How much longer can you do this without change?" 

The question is never going to get old, even when I'm not in a bad position.
Moreover, I find it necessary to ask this question when I'm suffering injustice of the actions of other people.

The point of mental health is to live peaceful in whatever circumstances you may be subjected to.
Balance is an art, the skill for it can be improved with time and effort.
For the sake of others, such as their stability, it is important to recognize how we respond to misunderstandings and disagreements of any kind.
At what point do we disregard what someone else has to say or how they feel? Is there any reason that is a legitimate explanation that isn't selfish?

You can go to a specialist to get help. There are many kinds who do different things, even if it means prescribing medication. Out of all these people, it is hard to say which one cares or what their concern is. You may be unfortunate to come across someone who doesn't follow their job specification or even worse, tries to perpetuate your troubles.
Which makes plenty of people ask an important question:

"Who can you trust, when everyone judges you for what they don't understand?"

Sometimes we have to face the music, a tune that plays out a horrible melody.. Orchestrating a painful existence of distrust and confusion. Brought into a world of death, clinging to some little bit of hope that we can make a change as individuals; despite how often failure turns it's ugly head to face us and snarls with it's blood soaked teeth. 

Such a macabre way to describe something that is just FEAR. However, it is that real for many people. Some have a way of keeping it to themselves, I am one of those people. And despite how I have found ways to not show my feelings, I have to accept the way that others have come to their own terms or haven't. Yet..
I know the way I deal with my own feelings is not an example in which I want to show as a good example. Because I suffer the injustice of being afflicted by my emotions by not showing them.

There are plenty of other things other than emotions that dictate mental health.
It can be said that there is no way to count the variances of troubles that afflict the mind for each individual that has ever lived on this planet, no matter how much history repeats itself.

"Where do I start? What do I stop? Who do I listen to?"

It would be nice if we had all the answers at our fingertips, with no need to put in effort to understand ourselves or the people around us. Carefree, full of joy, and able to help at any given moment.
I propose that it can be that way. By choice. 

There needs to be a turning point, a breakthrough, and patience. To relinquish the idea that nothing can change is a start, followed by a willingness to accept correction. Even if it means succumbing to the practice of something that we intrinsically disagree with. Especially if it is an adversity to certain ideologies or diagnosis of a physical condition. 

Do not hate or disown the person who needs medication to start the process, the same to those who seek conflict resolution through confrontation. Because each person has to deal with the consequences of their actions, but no person should have to feel that no one has regard for their effort.