Plugins
Suggest Ideas
Support Forum
Themes
WordPress Blog
WordPress PlanetA Protective Instinct–I always wanted to be protected
In my previous post, On Becoming a Liberal, I wrote about the idea of a “bleeding heart liberal.” I ended by saying that I am and was motivated by a passionate desire t protect and to be protected. I can remember this desire developing in childhood. I was very shy throughout child-hood, and into early adulthood. I was very small always and as a younger child, that really brought out that sense of vulnerability and fear of being hurt. It wasn’t just that, though… There were numerous areas of my life where I felt the desire to be protected. My maternal grandparents were very protective and strangely enough, I often found myself embarrassed by that. Not always, though, did I feel embarrassed. Sometimes having them speak up for me was such a wonderful feeling. It made me feel loved and valuable, worthy of protection.
As time went on, over the years, I became increasingly sensitive to the needs of others and their vulnerability to harm, or other forms of vulnerability. Especially, later in life, when I wasn’t the one who was vulnerable any longer, I acted at times, as I would want someone to act on my behalf, or as I would have wanted someone to act if they thought I was being hurt. The idea of one person intimidating another person was not something I could stand or accept. I had to act. I would start confronting a parent for striking, or spanking, their much more vulnerable child. It was what I truly desired that someone would have done for me. Isn’t that how we are supposed to act? Do onto others as you’d have them do onto you. And the corollary to that for me was do for others what you would have wanted someone to do for me, if I was in that situation.
The desire for power was never something I had ever wanted. I never felt the desire to have power over another person (other than in a very rare instance where a person means to harm me, which can be avoided by avoiding bad parts of town late at night).
This blog is published by Bruce Whealton, more information about Bruce Whealton is here… Bruce Whealton is the owner of Future Wave Designs, a North Carolina Company providing Web Design and Web Development. Visit:
NC Web Design:Future Wave Designs
From Bruce Whealton: Career, Interests and Values, post A Protective Instinct–I always wanted to be protected
Post Footer automatically generated by wp-posturl plugin for wordpress.
A Progressive/Liberal version of the Tea Party
I find in interesting this idea of emulating the Tea Party. Yes, indeed, progressives do have passionate ideas about what we think is right. We care about changing things and creating a better country. We have our own ideas about what is morally and ethically right. We can certainly get behind certain ideas about the way things ought to be. Call it morals or ethical beliefs, these things inspire us with a passion to improve our nation. Sometimes it is quite perplexing to me that there are such radical differences among Americans about these things.
We have so many things in common and yet we are so very divided often about what is right and the way things ought to be. It would be wrong for anyone to think that people like myself do not feel just as passionate about the things that we value… It would be wrong for persons like myself not to speak our conscience.
We cannot help but seek what we know is right. An observer might say that both opposing ideas cannot be right. However, I do not inform my beliefs based only on my passions… on feelings. I find reasonable, logical support for all my beliefs and feel with certainty that my beliefs accurately represent what is right.
For these reasons, I don’t think that I want to emulate the “Tea Party” per se. I don’t view them as being led by the brightest, most rational or sane group of folks. Would our “tea party” also be rascist? I’m not saying this in any way to reflect on the person who is being seen at the center of this movement – Van Jones. I have to say I could relate to some things I heard from him… like why do people who claim to be patriots have such problems with our government of the people, for the people and by the people and with American values – the values that shaped how our nation was formed.
I just think any good movement in America should be careful about who and what they emulate. We should avoid what is bad about the Tea Party and focus on rationality, reason, logic, and intelligence in addition to our passions and values.
This blog is published by Bruce Whealton, more information about Bruce Whealton is here… Bruce Whealton is the owner of Future Wave Designs, a North Carolina Company providing Web Design and Web Development. Visit:
NC Web Design:Future Wave Designs
From Bruce Whealton: Career, Interests and Values, post A Protective Instinct–I always wanted to be protected
Post Footer automatically generated by wp-posturl plugin for wordpress.
Recent Comments