Lessons Learned ... or Not

From the article:

America's Founders understood that each person — no matter the station or bloodline — possesses certain unalienable rights assigned at the moment of life by the Creator, not entitlements awarded by governments or states. It was also known, almost 245 years ago, that these rights had to be secured and that "whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government."

While I condemn what happened in DC with the breaking into Congress - I also understand a part of why it happened. When pretty much *every* petition sent to our government is met with silence or an outright "No, we will not address that" - and a very large portion of our citizenry yell at you to "just accept it, we are right, you are wrong, neener neener" - and big tech is blatantly going against their own mission statements and ushering in a new age of censorship - maybe, just maybe some people would be upset.

We've lost so much in this country. Gone are the following:

Empathy - actually walking a mile in someone else's shoes to gain an understanding of where that person comes from, not just paying lip service to the idea of doing so. I've asked several times in heated threads - who am I? (With a series of questions that typically get asked in the early days of any relationship.) The response? That is not important. The hell it ain't! Until you have built a relationship with someone you are nothing but an uninvited lecturer that will never break stride to see what might be going on. The very definition of a cultist.

Compassion - seeking first to understand before being understood. We have 2 ears and 1 mouth. Wise people I admire have told me to use them in that ratio. In the internet age we have 2 eyes and 10 fingers and the supposition is to use them in *that* ratio. What an utter failure of compassion.

Grace - the willingness to understand the circumstances and not just the letter of the (electronic) text on the screen. In the dictionary, grace is defined as courteous goodwill. Meaning, it's not asked for nor deserved, but is freely given.

For most conservatives I am blessed to know, these are 3 of the core values, of many core values. For instance, my wife and I sat down years ago to figure out what we stood for, our "tag line" if you will, the elevator pitch or whatever you want to call it. Our mission statement foundation. http://blueskies.sol3.net/2013/07/tag-line-or-just-way-to-live.html is the start of what little blogging I do.

Until empathy, compassion and grace come back into our behaviors we will NOT heal the split in this country.