Tags
compromises, discernment, faith, humor, kitchen appliances, nope, opinion
A compro-matic is a new fangled machine much like a food processor. You put your whole self into one end and you get spit out the other end, sliced, diced, and chewed up.
Somebody smart once taught me that the middle of the road is where all the roadkill goes. You aren’t walking down the middle of the road because people want to hold hands with you and sing kumbaya, you’re walking down the middle of the road because people want to transform you into roadkill.
Them’s some tough words, some harsh truths, some genuine gallows wisdom that comes from the school of hard knocks. I’m sorry if anybody ever told you that people are all about peace, love, and smelling like patchouli.
First, some context here. There truly are some people who need to become acquainted with the softer side of Sears, who need to learn the fine art of compromise, who are lacking the ability to play well with others. I am not one of those people, I am someone who drives the crazy train right off the tracks and into the other far ditch. I know how to compromise, I know how to play well with others, I know how to go along to get along. I also know how to sell my soul in the process, until I am much like the invisible woman, erased, tip toeing around and walking on eggshells, being fully praised for my complete non existence and totally benign nature.
“Benign,” it means a useless clump of cells, serving no real purpose. A miraculous thing if you are facing a cancer diagnosis, not so good if it becomes your entire identity and you are a living creature with breath still in your body. True story, been there, done that, and probably should have gotten a tattoo to commemorate having survived the abyss of the compro-matic.
And that is why I can stand here and confidently say things like, No, we do not “just need to learn how to work together.” No, we do not, “just need to learn how to compromise.” No, we do not, “just need to find unity in the path forward.” There is no “we” here, unless you are carrying around a mouse in your pocket. You may well need to learn those things, I do not.
You simply cannot negotiate with bullies and terrorists. You cannot just send a social worker out on a cop call to deal with domestic violence or mental health problems. You cannot simply love people back to good health. Jesus sure can, but you yourself, for-geddaboutit. In fact, you can make the situation much worse with misplaced compassion and compromise.
That is just as true of personal situations as it is in national politics.
There are a lot of things I do with some cheerful fortitude because of force, tyranny really. That does not mean I am in agreement or that I approve, or that “we are all on the same page.” You have certainly not won over my heart and mind, in fact, I probably have no respect for you at all. That is part of the reason why God gives us freewill, because He desires our hearts and minds, our respect and our love, not just our reluctant compliance.
There is a time to do things that you just aren’t “feeling.” There is a time to put on some cheerful fortitude and do what you know is right, like exercising, for example, or eating broccoli. That however is not the same thing as surrendering all to someone else’s needs in the name of unity and a rather perverse distortion of the concept of “peace.” We have peace with God, and “as much as it rests with us,” peace with one another, but we do not have peace with the world, nor peace with what is evil, nor peace “at all costs.”
Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
Christian people need to stand up and they need to honor the wisdom of those of us who have been around the block a few times, who understand the temptation of just wanting to go along to get along, the temptation of desiring “peace” and to “just put this all behind us,” and to come back to the happy center.
Nope! Anybody who demands you have to jump into the compro-matic and change who you are and what you believe in, in order to have “peace and unity” with them is not your friend, they are looking to take hostages. There are a lot of broken people in the world, and we are not at war with people, but you sure better be at war with the spirit behind the deception.
Julie (aka Cookie) said:
Good stuff my friend!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
insanitybytes22 said:
Thanks, Julie.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Julie (aka Cookie) said:
thank you my friend!
LikeLike
Mama X said:
Oh the joy of being a hostage, chained and quieted for the sake of world peace! What an oxymoron and definitely contrary to the Son setting us free indeed. It’s just so sad how oppression comes under the guise of being a neighborly Christian.
LikeLiked by 4 people
insanitybytes22 said:
Amen. Whom the Son sets free, is free indeed!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Doug said:
You said….
“Christian people need to stand up and they need to honor the wisdom of those of us who have been around the block a few times, who understand the temptation of just wanting to go along to get along, the temptation of desiring “peace” and to “just put this all behind us,” and to come back to the happy center.”
Interesting to note that you seem to know what “Christian people need to do” (I suppose that leaves out the other religions?) Besides that, no two “around the blockers” agree to the same “wisdom”. Age defines only existence, not anything else. We presume existence translates to experience, which then translates to some level of wisdom, which is nothing more than reaching conclusions from one’s experiences worth passing on. Since the problems exists that we are all human, not all conclusions are points of sound wisdom. For many of us that’s one reason we blog.. to impress upon the world our sage wisdom because we think it contains value… that somehow “I am old” suddenly propels us to know how others should behave.
Past post on the subject…
https://randompontifications.com/2020/10/29/omg-as-a-senior-do-i-now-know-the-meaning-of-life/
LikeLike
insanitybytes22 said:
By “been around the block,” I meant people who have done this already, people who have compromised and negotiated themselves right into non existence. I wasn’t thinking of seniors specifically. A ten year old kid instinctively knows that the more you compromise with a bully the more they lean into you.
I absolutely know what Christian people “need to do.” I am saying exactly that. One thing they can do is stop saying things like, what about all the other religions? We have to be fair to all views! Nope, not having any of it, Doug.
LikeLiked by 3 people
ColorStorm said:
You do get commended Doug for challenging the points of people who do not compromise when zero tolerance demands it.
You have to appreciate the steadfastness of mind concerning all things Christian. It’s not an easy life being bitten on all sides and asked to dilute a position to ‘go with the flow.’ Nope. Lots of salmon around these waters who do not scale back. 🙂
LikeLike
Doug said:
Life itself is a compromise each and every day. The secret is.. well.. like Kenny Rogers said..
“You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run…”
The smarter person doesn’t hold to a position out of stubborness or some self-serving tenacity or moral platitude unless they also know where that line might be where they would/could compromise all that… not to surrender any of that, but rather to enhance another possibility of coexistence. Each person’s line in the sand is different.
LikeLiked by 1 person
insanitybytes22 said:
I think the problem here Doug, is that each person’s line in the sand cannot be different, not on the things that matter. We’re going to have to agree that cannibalism should be discouraged.
LikeLike
Doug said:
Yeah.. well.. I’m heading for a fatty liver so consuming wary or unwary humans is out of the picture these days. Times do change.
LikeLiked by 2 people
insanitybytes22 said:
Ha! 🙂
LikeLike
Sam said:
Hey Doug, Sat Nam Siri Wahe Guru.
If I understand the gist of your complaint, it’s that age does not bring wisdom in all things.
That’s true as far as it goes. Experience, however, does bring some understanding in the things you’ve been through.
Reading and studying may give you ideas about something, but wisdom comes from attempting it, sometimes over and over, and measuring you successes and failures. Age gives you that time.
Yes, I’ve read Nanak’s Granth. He lived to a ripe old age, but you’ll have to judge his wisdom for yourself.
LikeLike
Doug said:
I’m not privy to the Sikh beliefs… given pretty much that my interest in the world’s variety of faiths is minimal unless it contributes a historical event worth learning about. So you’ll have to forgive my relative ignorance. But maybe from your reply I can descern another variant of wisdom… that knowledge is power, although I hold to the expanded idea that knowledge itself is not power at all. The real power of knowledge is knowing how to use the knowledge you have to your greatest advantage. That part is the wisdom to know the difference.
Keep in mind, the sheer variety of man lends itself to interpreting life experiences in many ways, reaching any number of possible conclusions, resulting in a wisdom that could be just one of many interpretations. If you and I experience the same… experience… we will both walk away with different conclusions as a result. n Yet we both can claim “a wisdom”.
LikeLike
Michael Wilson said:
I think this is missing in lots of Christians bibles: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” ~Jesus
Thanks for speaking the truth.
LikeLiked by 1 person
insanitybytes22 said:
I think it is, too! Ironically, many Christians seem to have no problem eating their own. I just wish we could focus some of that same enthusiasm onto slaying some worldly deceptions. If we went after the enemy like we go after worship music and the setting on the thermostat, the world might look a bit different. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Night Wind said:
The type of compromise being described is ‘teamwork.’ It works for football players, military men, and religious orders where a group of men have to put aside personal issues to achieve a common goal. But there’s a huge difference between being part of a team and being the citizen of a nation. The Whacko Left Wing (ideological fanatics) and their crony-capitalist allies (megalomaniacs) have been blurring this distinction for a long time: “The Personal is Political.” is their motto.
The propagandists of the so-called ‘New Left’ like to portray themselves as ‘progressive’ and ‘innovative’: They mock Conservatives as ‘old boomers’ and spout off about ‘dead white men’; and laugh at faith as ‘the ideals of Bronze Age bigots’ but the Reality is that they are embracing ideals that our forefathers escaped from. What actually motivates them is a hatred for Civilization and Progress. ‘The Great Reset’ is about resetting society alright: it’s about taking us back to prehistoric levels of social interaction. The Strongest ruled; human beings sought the ‘safety’ of the herd, and survival at any cost was the highest value in life.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Doug said:
A lot of convenient labels you are tossing around there.
LikeLike
The Night Wind said:
Sorry, Doug, but it’s your side who invents the convenient labels. Every ‘New Normal’ that the Left and their RINO friends employ to ‘deconstruct’ Civilization has a Madison Avenue-concocted slogan to cover the ugliness of what it really means. Infanticide is ‘reproductive rights’. Property Expropriation is called a ‘Green New Deal’. Torture is ‘Enhanced Interrogation’. Sexual Perverts are now ‘sexual minorities.’ Domestic Espionage is ‘contact tracing.’ Suspending Legislatures is ‘ assuming emergency powers’, etc. They even invent terms for things that don’t exist like ‘systemic racism.’
LikeLike
Doug said:
I suppose we could get in some “who cares” pissing match on when and where all the world’s political labels came from but the point remains…. still a choice to use them or not as a way to diss the “other side”. Your post/reply had quite a collection.
LikeLike
oneta hayes said:
Unity? Isn’t it fascinating that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, said he came to bring a sword for dividing… even within one’s own household. (Matthew 10:34). Unity? Totally if you are unified with Christ. Come on, World. Let’s be unified with Christ. Seems to be very few takers. Love your Compro-Matic.
LikeLiked by 1 person
insanitybytes22 said:
So true, Oneta! Let’s be unified with Christ! Amen, I’m all over that. But you’re right, the problem being, there just aren’t very many takers. I’ll go so far as to say, there can’t be any unity without Christ! He is what has made it possible for us to get along in the first place. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
oneta hayes said:
Hail to the Prince of Peace! Wasn’t he born at Christmas? Oh, yes. That is the reason for Christmas. Giving us a glimpse of the Prince of Peace.
LikeLiked by 1 person
insanitybytes22 said:
Love it! All hail the Prince of peace! I bring you good tidings of great joy! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Doug said:
I’m diabetic. I prefer a Veg-O-Matic… and I know God approves.
LikeLike
seekingdivineperspective said:
Jesus did say He did not come to bring peace but a sword. He also said when struck we should turn the other cheek. This isn’t a contradiction. We need to know when it’s appropriate to do one and not the other, which is why we need to be in constant communion with Him. Just because we have walked the aisle or “prayed the sinner’s prayer,” or even read through the Bible once, doesn’t mean we don’t need His guidance (perspective) every hour of every day. When things come along that challenge us, we need to discern when He is saying roll with the punches and when He is saying it’s time to stand firm. We’re all going to die, the question is, which hill are we going to die on? If it’s important to God, our lives have been well spent.
LikeLike
dumbestblogger said:
I actually do have a mouse in my pocket. Seems this post wasn’t meant for me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
insanitybytes22 said:
LOL! Good, you must be here to provide some balance in the world. We can’t all go in the same ditch, you know. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
dumbestblogger said:
But it does sound like a nice ditch.
LikeLiked by 1 person
sildenafil 105 mg canada said:
60 mg sildenafil https://eunicesildenafilcitrate.com/ sildenafil 220
LikeLike