Saturday, December 17, 2011

Reverb11 -- Day 17 -- Saying No and Loathing

#1 Prompt: Saying "No":  Recall a moment when you said "yes" to something but felt you probably should have said "no".  How did you feel?  Why did you choose to rollover your intuition?  In 2012, how can you choose to only do things that serve you?

#2 Loathing - Who or what do you loathe and how have you expressed that in 2011?

 #1 -- No. I actually got pretty good about saying no in 2011, or saying that "I'll think about it" at least. I am no longer involved in anything where I think I've outlasted my useful contributions, I don't volunteer to do things I really don't want to do, and I make a conscious effort not to be around people who are nasty or otherwise unpleasant. I plan to continue this policy in 2012! 

This is a sea-change from the people-pleasing behaviors I've exhibited in much of my past, and I'm proud of myself.  While I still sometimes want to open my mouth and express an opinion about something that needs doing in a group setting, or that could be done better (how arrogant is THAT!), I have managed to SHUT UP and smile because most of the time I don't want to get involved in doing it (usually something related to publicity or graphic design). It's not that I won't volunteer; it's just that I want to spend my volunteer time on something I feel passionate about, and right now there isn't much that I'm finding.

#2 --  Loathing. The dictionary definition is "verb (used with object), loathed, loath·ing.

to feel disgust or intense aversion for; abhor: I loathe people who spread malicious gossip."
I loathe what the Tea Party has manifested itself to be in our country, especially those Congressional legislators who have as their primary goal the ouster of President Obama AT ANY COST. Programs which aid the poor, the elderly, the sick, and the mentally ill have dramatically suffered because of their votes or unwillingness to compromise. Our financial stability has this year been gravely threatened even further by their refusal to extend the debt ceiling. Their rigid stand on women's rights and conservative views of marriage and equality is simply unacceptable to me, and I don't understand how they justify such positions from a Christian point of view.
I loathe lying. Nothing breaks my trust more quickly than lies. The truth is always more acceptable even if it is hard to hear. (Okay, little white lies about where I've hidden the chocolate or the Christmas gifts being the exception...)

I loathe deliberate cruelty, especially to animals and children. The sick tickets who think it's funny to light a cat on fire or chain a dog with water and food just out of reach (or not available) have a special place reserved for them in hell. And those who molest children deserve castration, preferably without anesthetic. (While I realize that such sick adults were also probably abused as children, there IS help available for them. Well, unless the Tea Party has their way, I guess, and eliminates all mental health programs.)
That clear enough?

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