Labels
I was just recently referred to as a “Fluffy Bunny.” To those that even know me just a little, that moniker seems ill placed. But the reason it happened is because of a further mislabeling that happens all the time.
Most folks assume that I am a liberal.
And no Senator McCarthy, I am not now nor have I ever been a liberal.
So this person assumed that because I signed on to an open letter calling for diplomacy with Iran instead of a military response, he assumed incorrectly that only a liberal would make that assessment.
Part of the problem lies in the classic American ignorance of class, the political spectrum and our own (and everyone else’s) history.
We Americans have been fed a bunch of malarkey about our political system. That we are or have ever been a two-party system, that left and right denote the Democrats and Republicans respectively and that there is such a thing as the mythical middle class.
We have always had more than two parties, both the Democrats and the Republicans are on the right and what we are facing is just short of class warfare – and BTW, the bourgeois coalition is winning at the moment.
So for the record, I have no friggin idea what to call myself. Maybe I am an anarcho-socialist-ecofeminist-universalist-poet-saboteur or something equivalent. But in whatever guise I adopt, I hardly ever am “fluffy” and even on good days I am pretty sure I cannot hop.
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sweet! :-)
You are usually able to annunciate what I do not have words for. Thank you!
Much love,
-Eridanus
INTJ here. I hear what you are saying.
"what is remembered, lives". It was with sadness that I read of Wilma Mankiller's passing. She won't be forgotten.
"...Weaver, Weaver weave this thread, whole and strong into your web...Healer, Healer, heal our pain...In love may she return again..."
While student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I became friends with Carl Rogers, who was respected as one of the leading psychotherapists of his time. He taught me much about the art of listening.
Dr. Rogers said that when we listen, and people know we are listening, it shows we truly care about them. In turn, they will respond by caring about you. It opens communication and also opens hearts. When we accept them as a person, unconditionally, they will be more kind to you.
We should listen without preconceptions, without anticipation and without judgement if we want others to portray what they truly feel. We listen with all our senses, not just to the words which are said. Some people cannot fully express themselves while speaking, so we must try to see them as they see themselves. We should watch for non-verbal clues as to what they really mean: facial expressions, body movements, etc.
While we should show positive regard for the other person, we should also demonstrate our own positive self-regard. We do not react to their negative comments, verbally or physically, even when we disagree with them. When they do ask for our opinion, however, we should respond with our true thoughts and in specifics rather than generalities. We offer our own perspective as other options rather than as contradictions.
Listening might seem quite passive as opposed to speaking. It is actually very active. To paraphrase Bobby Kennedy, “I learn while listening. When I talk I don’t learn too much.” If you think talking helps to spread your own wisdom, you are not really wise.