SUNDAY THOUGHTS

Blanket statements reveal a lot about those who make them. For them to be true or credible, one would have to had encountered EVERYONE, and everything, and that’s impossible. 

It’s the deficit in lived experience, that makes blanket statements so irresponsible and ridiculous.

The world is so much bigger than anyone’s circle or neighborhood, and some statements scream that a person has not ventured very far outside of them, at all.

ARE all people one way or another, or is it just the handful of people you’ve chosen to be around? 

DO all people behave a certain way, or is it just the people you’ve seen on TV?

IS it true that “they” ALL think or feel a certain way, or is it just the ones you bothered to ask?

How do the actions of ONE person, or a few people, cause someone to indict, criticize, accuse, judge, distrust, ridicule, avoid, slander, and demonize an entire gender, group, profession, or demographic? That ONE bad exchange, relationship, or experience can be a beast, I guess. So can misinformation. It can fool someone into thinking they’re an expert on ALL, when the only take they have, is that ONE unfortunate circumstance—that may not even be true. 

Don’t let anyone or anything make you bigoted, prove your limited reach, demonstrate your lack of education, or expose your gullibility, or narrow thinking. 

If you’re fair, you always have to reserve the notion that the problem may be YOU, not THEM. The problem may be, how you were raised, what you were taught, what you heard, read, or were led to believe. Others don’t have to fall in line, be like you, follow your rules, traditions, habits, or orders. They don’t have to adopt your ways, support your causes, or embrace your tastes, in order to be right, or acceptable.

The need to change, fix, validate, own, control, and correct others, and their lack of desire, willingness to allow it, or their failure to comply or agree, leads to frustration, and the uttering of blanket statements that simply aren’t true for everyone. Nothing is monolithic. There are always exceptions that will aggressively push back on being lumped into one category, and ask, “Who told you that? Where did you get that idea from?”

Everyone is certainly entitled to their opinions, but don’t let it be said that you sound like a fool. Don’t let ignorance (or unfounded fear) cause you to cling to, or spew bogus ideas and theories. Don’t forfeit what could be meaningful, productive, horizon-expanding relationships and experiences, because you won’t simply think for yourself, dissect your own philosophies, open your eyes— or let go of a lie.