= new reply since forum marked as read
... but it's probably best that I keep quiet.) In the meantime... I'm forever grateful that you found (created?) this and shared it with everyone!
Via my FB feed.
There can't a true understanding without communication.
"I don't know what you mean by 'glory'," Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't- till I tell you. I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!'"
"But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument'," Alice objected.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean- neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master-that's all."
Alice was too much puzzled to say anything; so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. "They've a temper some of them- particularly verbs: they're the proudest- adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs- however, I can manage the whole lot of them! Impenetrability! That's what I say!"
I've noticed a trend over the last several years where increasingly, many folks seem to hear things with a bias of suspicion. In other words, their brains seem to ask "how can this harm me" when hearing statements directed to them. I'm stating that because of the reactions I get from people, who many times respond to seemingly innocuous comments with a harsh or "upside down" reaction.
Previously, I would notice that sort of response only from people who had reason to be highly suspicious - say, those who had been in abusive relationship or abused as a child, or someone that had been in prison.
I think we have a lot of work to do toward rehabilitating our collecting mode of thinking about one another. If we don't work toward restoring trust in our fellow man, then we may be doomed to anarchy, or the other end of the spectrum - a dictatorship.
