I am not perfect. I am not perfect.
I can never be perfect.
Perfection is an illusion, an idea that doesn't actually exist, at least anywhere on earth. Human beings have yet to find perfection and yet to achieve perfection. I'd be tempted to say that math and science are perfect but then you have things that exist like irrational numbers and genetic mutations.
Some would say God is perfect. God, gods, Allah, whatever you call this being. Could be. But maybe perfection cannot exist, even for a god. I think the God I believe in is perfect. The God I believe in is not jealous, is not hateful, is not spiteful, does not favor one over another, and is pure.
I did a lot today. Audra joined me on my full brick workout this morning. ~20mi biking, much of it along US 36 between Boulder and Denver, along the new bike path,
AND almost 3mi running. Although could you call it running? It was a rather slow pace. But Audra is always kind enough to go at my speed (hah, she thought I was going at her speed when she was pushing the double stroller with two 30-40lb kids?). It felt great to get that much exercise in and feel more confident about this upcoming triathlon.
I also got my hair dyed. I wasn't quite sure what color I was going with when I walked in, but it ended up a red again. There's supposed to be a violet tint, which I can tell in certain lights. PS, I am not naked in these photos. The tank straps are behind all that lovely, gorgeous hair. Hah.
I had some really good friend time (you all remember Nasser and the boys are outta town right? Hence all the me time) this evening with 2 different friends,
and
I shared my blog on facebook.
(It is my personal jab at facebook that I refuse to capitalize their name on my blog. Even though Google tells me it's spelled wrong. I love facebook and I hate facebook. And I suppose I might hate that I love it sometimes too.)
I've been thinking about doing this for a very long time actually. And I finally decided to take the plunge today. I've mostly been avoiding looking on facebook since posting it, but I have checked (and read and commented) a few times.
There are lots of reasons I decided to do it. And in the end it felt like there was more to gain than to lose. I could bare my vulnerability to the world and dare greatly, as Brené Brown puts it (hey readers, remember her?), although the true credit for the phrase goes to Theodore Roosevelt. The part of his speech she quoted in the book, the famous part, I'll paste below, from "Citizenship in a Republic":
"It is not the critic who counts;
not the man who points out
how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds
could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly;
who errs, who comes short again and again,
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;
but who does actually strive to do the deeds;
who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions;
who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement,
and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly..."
It is excruciatingly hard to be vulnerable. To share your story, share your pain. I do so only behind the safety of my Chromebook.
But I think the more we do so, the more we bring empathy into the world. And just in case I have any new readers who've never seen it, please check out the empathy cartoon below. It is still useful to those of us who have seen it many times. I will watch it with you now.
I think the best way to practice empathy is to share our stories and listen to each other's stories. You can never have the empathy if you don't listen as well. I hope I do so with my friends and loved ones. I try to.
Some people say the key to stopping mass shootings is to enact some gun control, others say we need more God in the world. Still others say we need to crack down on terrorism, while others say we need love. I think a big part of the equation is empathy. If you can empathize with others, you start to value each other more. You value human life more, you value working together more. You value your planet more, and you value your fellow human beings' rights and freedoms more. I think empathy is the key to it all. Here's my equation:
X (empathy) + y (love/morals/values/God) + z (reasonable limits on what weapons go into the power of what people, at all levels of society- civilian up through presidents/dictators) = a safer and happier world with fewer wars and deaths of all kind
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