A House Divided… But Is It!?!
This is outside my wheelhouse. Over the years I have progressively cut and removed social media and online presence from my life. Preferring to keep to myself and those around me. Interaction in real life being the most important thing allowed me to avoid being involved in this virtual experiment. Living in reality and interacting with people face to face is as important as it has ever been.
The draw of sitting, typing, and swiping behind a screen seems to allow for a lot more buffoonery and ridiculous behavior. So I would sit and generally wonder if these people, these keyboard warriors, these screen junkies, have some sort of brain damage. Research shows that, at the very least, there is an extreme dopamine addiction in our society today.
Over the years I have held my strong opinions and in watching this virtual story unfold on TV and the internet. By observation I figured that our nation and people in general must be insane. I kept interacting with people in real life, people from all over. People I met in town, that I met while traveling, while moving around. People I met through business, and through my social circle. Slowly I realized that, with very few outliers, everyone is basically the same. Most of us hold similar beliefs, have similar standards of morality, of right and wrong. Most people are tolerant and accepting of others and hold no ill will towards anyone.
While we are told that we are a country divided, that there are 2 sides, each one the extreme opposite of the other. Each one fighting to defeat the other. Each one is more likely to ruin our way of life than the other. I think about this most ludicrous idea. After traveling through most of the country, and internationally to a certain extent, seeing and meeting all types of people, I have some to one conclusion. We are all basically the same.
There may be a few topics where there is some divide, it really seems like only a few topics. In discussions, it is really that most people cannot know the whole story on every topic. Where I have seen the most animosity usually ends up being a small misunderstanding of the big picture. As long as everyone stays calm and can have a discussion, people seem to come pretty close to the same conclusions.
So this divide is really more just a divide in education or knowledge on the topics at hand. I have seen that both of the “sides” are a lot closer in opinion once we are able to rationally discuss the information at hand and broaden our understanding.
Heavy G, what does all of this have to do with your website? On the front page it says thoughts about life, food, fun, and fitness. Here you are talking about rational discussion and a divide that is not there. Is this a diversion of some sort?
Not at all!
Our answers are very simple, they happen in real life, face to face. If we are looking to be united we have to go no further than the nearest town, walk up to someone, look them in the eyes, shake hands, and say hello. Then get some food.
Food and fitness go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other. To eat together you have to be together. To train together you have to be together. In doing these things together we will find that there is no divide, that we have a lot more in common than TV and the internet would have us believe. The only way to learn that is in real life.
Switch off your screens, head off and hike a trail together, have a meal together. Fill your bellies, sip some wine, and have an honest discussion about something important. You will be surprised at the experiences you have.
