The Breaking Point
(Bad Buddhist or Good?)
Imagine, if you will, a meter that measures the level of caring. There is a white zone to the far left indicating not caring; a large green zone spanning the arch of the meter indicating healthy caring; a yellow zone to the right indicating more than healthy caring; and a red zone on the far right indicating dangerous levels of caring. I exist in the red zone and occasionally break through to “beyond caring.”
The Keep and the Breach
The same walls that defend you also prevent you from accepting help. The very same mote that protects your vulnerabilities also keeps love at bay. To open your heart is Pandora’s Box in reverse – it lets in all gifts, including those that may be hard to accept.
Chuck & Lucy
Why does Charlie Brown accept Lucy’s offer to kick the football – again and again? It’s not the satisfaction of kicking the football. He could do that anytime, with other people. It’s not that he has forgotten the innumerable times that she has pulled the football out from its spot just before his full-flung attempt that lands him on his back. No. The only reason could be that he refuses to give up on her. He refuses to believe that she is cold, heartless, cruel, mean, deceitful, and unfeeling. That is, he refuses to allow himself to accept that she is so un-Charlie-Brown-like. He simply cannot accept the notion that a fellow human being could lack the characteristics that make us human. He tries to kick the ball because he wants to believe in humanity. He wants to see humanity redeemed from its Lucy-like state. And, due to this lofty aspiration, he faces perpetual disappointment.
Nomenclature
There is no writer who writes in a language made up entirely of neologisms.
Good to Remember
We are each obstructions to someone else.
Contronymic Conflicts
Differences between people – race, creed, color, gender – are all obstacles that cleave us.
Relationship Building
Which builds a relationship’s strength more – the ability to have a good time with someone or the ability to have a good fight with someone?
