Opus 2018-014: Lessons in the Trees

As I watch the trees outside my window I notice that they look greener than they did a few minutes ago.  Then they were a dark gray with spots of orange.  Now they are varieties of green with brown and beacons of sky blue shining through.  What has changed?  Did the trees pull a chameleon on me?  Were my eyes wrong?  Did the sun change its color?  Maybe it is just an example of how life is a process not a photograph.

It is much more than beauty that is in the eyes of the beholder.  The trees themselves did not change.  My location did not change.  It was outside factors that caused me to see what I saw.  Intellectually I knew that the trees were not orange.  I enjoyed the passing facade.  I did not question my sanity or the sincerity of the trees.  Why do I have so much trouble with that concept when it comes to politics and personal interactions?

How often am I only too ready to accept that someone has done evil?  If it is someone who has a long record of doing evil then the answer is obvious, because that is what they do.  But when you have someone who has a long record of at least trying to do the right thing, why am I so gullible.  And it works both ways.  Often we refuse to see the evil because we don’t want to see it.  We had a conversation with a waiter recently.  He said the one thing that disturbed him about President Trump is the way he has caused all the tension and hatred between blacks and whites.  What was his evidence?  All his black friends said so.  It didn’t do any good to point out that Obama was the race baiter and cause of increased hostility.  I brought up specific examples but I am not sure he was convinced.  After all, his black friends said so.

Have I been quick to jump on the person who upset me with a caustic comment?  This can also be personal and every day.  Think about it from the other angle.  Have you ever said anything and later realized how it must have come across and been totally embarrassed and even ashamed?  You didn’t mean it the way it was taken.  I think of a time I was daydreaming at a stop light.  It turned green.  I daydreamed.  The guy behind me finally honked.  I realized I had messed up and waved at him to show there were no hard feelings.  He thought I was giving him the finger.

We need to be a little more forgiving in the day to day business of life.  In elections and community choices we need discernment and discrimination but on spur of the moment stuff our skin needs a good thickening.

homo unius libri