Mission Statements Keep You Honest

I write for fun. I'm lousy at arguing in real-time and I find that putting my words down gives me time to craft them in a way that conveys the clearest sense of the complex ways in which my mind tends to work. That complexity often makes my reasoning appear thin, or tangential. But I always have a reason for the point that I cling to, much like a rock climber carefully selects their hand-holds on what may otherwise seem to be a featureless plane of stone. It may not look like much, but once you see it in action, it's value becomes apparent.

My dad is a minister, and a fine one at that. I often found as a younger man that scriptural passages were difficult to understand, or at the very least difficult to apply to normal life. My dad's particular skill was in finding the keystone of a passage, that one phrase that made everything else relevant. And it's something he taught me to do as well.

The world we live in is full of diverse ideas, philosophies, and agendas. A superficial examination of any one viewpoint typically yields very little except for an image of an angry zealot that is convinced that everyone else is going to ruin a good thing. Everyone's individual vision is right and the rest of you be damned. But people rarely cling to an idea for 'light and transient causes'. I therefore accept that I cannot enter pitched debate with a person unless they have a deeply rooted position, and those roots at the very least deserve my respect.

We all learned in school to examine the H and Five W's as an extension of critical thinking. You ask How, Who, What, When, Where, and Why on a daily basis. But 'Why' is a special question that deserves deeper examination because it is a Reason instead of just being a Fact.

The Reasons that people do what they do are what I find most interesting. I've studied psychology and I continue to have a deep fascination for it. My first Psych teacher, Dr. Cliff Underwood, often commented that the main reason students took his class was to get "an edge" on their fellow man. I agree with that. I find that with insight into a person's reasons I can better relate to them, and thereby help them relate to me.

Please don't think that I like to manipulate. That implies that one understands another well enough to use their natural reactions to elicit a desired response through deceit. I find that deplorable. Rather what I desire is to look through their eyes, and while I'm there, show them my vision of the world as well. There in we may at least find understanding, but hopefully expand our vision also.

This blog is dedicated, therefore, to those that oppose my viewpoint, however vehemently, and to the effort to see things their way. I promise to give full consideration to every topic, and the foundations on which they're built, which people feel compelled to debate. I will write fairly and honestly, with no preference given to that which supports my view. I believe my assessment of the world correct, though I accept that I may be wrong. In good faith, I will attempt to prove myself wrong with the arguments others levy against me.

Your suggestions are welcomed. Your comments are desired. You indulgence is appreciated.

I hereby Assume the Position of those who say I am wrong.