THE SOUND OF ONE FIGHTER FIGHTING
Monday , Nov. 25, 2019
We’ve all heard this cliché question: What is the sound of one hand clapping?
I would add, ‘what is the sound of one person fighting?’ ~ and perhaps that is a definition of mental illness – fighting against ourselves, unopposed, but embattled nonetheless.
One would think you cannot have a battle without two or more opposing sides.
People battle all the time – parents and children, teachers and students, students v. students, competitors of every critter, plant, and human kind. Competition for food, territory, and reproduction are at the root of this in the entire microbe world through to the largest creatures swimming in oceans or trapesing around Africa – and also true of every person who sat in a boardroom, or who chose to blog about the latest wrong done to them by some person or organization.
I know these issues, yet sometimes I feel frightfully naive about them.
Because, it takes two to fight.
With only one combatant there is no combating. While it is true that an unopposed steamroller will flatten anything in its path, we can usually dodge the steamroller without getting flattened or having to fight – we just get out of its way, and whether it is on a sane path or not isn’t our issue.
One fighter fighting is tilting at an already tilting windmill …
Reader feedback:
Good morning, Mark. I read a book about 25 years ago titled “Change Is...” The author made no attempt to define change or apply adjectives to it, or rail against it, but simply to observe that it is, that it constantly exists. Solomon’s wisdom inspired him to tell us that “To everything there is a time, season, and purpose under the heaven” (Book of Ecclesiastes).A seventeen year season with an all- volunteer organization is remarkable, and in that time I have no doubt that you inspired many to face and conquer the debilitating fear of public speaking. That was a season, and they all come to an end, but the purpose lives on. I have no doubt that you will inspire many more!, SW, Sylvan Lake, AB
Great read Nov. 24; and you have your integrity in place!, DH, Calgary, AB
Hi Mark, I don’t read your Musing column every day, but yesterday and today, I read it. It reminded me an appeasing song written by Pete Seeger based on the book of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. Many recordings have been done in the 60’s. Here is the link to the version from The Seekers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRg9NkIdjVs Best, RG, Montreal, QB
