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shipperxI'm back home. We mostly had decent weather on vacation but, damn, it flew by quickly.
At work we've had something of a tragedy. One of our draftsmen's wife went into the hospital for a knee replacement. After she came home she abruptly died. Apparently, it was a blood clot. I feel absolutely terrible for him. Such a tragedy.
On other fronts, I've been embroiled with a three day e-mail argument with my sister. I have a pretty steadfast rule about not discussing politics online because I've seen enough online friendships and online groups implode over politics and... well... kerfuffles abound over stuff like sparkly vampires, for goodness sakes. If those can cause kerfuffles, then debates over politics go thermonuclear, which is actually understandable. Discussions of politics touch on very deep things. We've reached those opinions on our own and when seeing someone who sees things wildly differently it's really, really difficult to not say "How can you see X, Y, or Z that way? No. Seriously. HOW?!" However, that's been the gist of the fight (yeah, I think it actually qualifies as a fight) between my sister and myself the last few days. And I'm talking two women who grew up in the exact same household with the exact same parents. And right now we're sending e-mails back to each other that essentially boil down to "how on EARTH can you see things that way?!" My mother has advised me not to reply to my sister again on the subject because there really is no shaking my sister out of her current position, and I can say that the exact same thing applies to me. I haven't reached my choices lightly, and an argument with my sister won't change my position. But if two people who have pretty much the same background (albeit there's a somewhat significant age difference between us as my sister was nearly 13 before I was born)... well, if we can have some passionately held and substantially different viewpoints, then it's safe to say that people on the internet that come from wildly different circumstances are bound to run into areas where they are worlds apart in view.
I do try to be open minded. I try to be logical. I try (and consider myself to be) moderate (because that's just me). I try to understand different points of view... and, yeah, I sometimes still end up with "How in the HELL can you view X, Y, or Z that way? How?!"
I wish I had answers. I don't. I wish that it was possible to fully comprehend how everyone views the world, but it isn't. Sigh. Election season always raises tensions. And, as with the last couple of elections, I'll again try to refrain from discussing politics in my LJ because I use my LJ as a stress reliever and political debates do indeed stress me out. But, my lack of speaking about politics doesn't mean that I have no political opinion. (I think the default icon in my LJ -- as opposed to the one in my post -- makes it apparent what my current position is. But that's probably about as far as I intend to go with politics in my LJ.)
Although, now I have to see my sister tomorrow (because of the game) and either we're going to end up continuing the political argument in person (apparently I've "changed" according to her. Er... no, not really. My beliefs are the same as always, and I see myself as standing by those beliefs. But, I have to say, reading some of her current views feels surreal, so I suppose the same must work in reverse. Although, no, I really haven't changed what I think, even if it's expressed in a way that she didn't anticipate).
*sigh*
At any rate, it's either pretending to sisterly amnesia tomorrow or slogging through another argument, this time face to face, with zero possibility of our changing each others views in any way (we are a family of stubborn people).
At work we've had something of a tragedy. One of our draftsmen's wife went into the hospital for a knee replacement. After she came home she abruptly died. Apparently, it was a blood clot. I feel absolutely terrible for him. Such a tragedy.
On other fronts, I've been embroiled with a three day e-mail argument with my sister. I have a pretty steadfast rule about not discussing politics online because I've seen enough online friendships and online groups implode over politics and... well... kerfuffles abound over stuff like sparkly vampires, for goodness sakes. If those can cause kerfuffles, then debates over politics go thermonuclear, which is actually understandable. Discussions of politics touch on very deep things. We've reached those opinions on our own and when seeing someone who sees things wildly differently it's really, really difficult to not say "How can you see X, Y, or Z that way? No. Seriously. HOW?!" However, that's been the gist of the fight (yeah, I think it actually qualifies as a fight) between my sister and myself the last few days. And I'm talking two women who grew up in the exact same household with the exact same parents. And right now we're sending e-mails back to each other that essentially boil down to "how on EARTH can you see things that way?!" My mother has advised me not to reply to my sister again on the subject because there really is no shaking my sister out of her current position, and I can say that the exact same thing applies to me. I haven't reached my choices lightly, and an argument with my sister won't change my position. But if two people who have pretty much the same background (albeit there's a somewhat significant age difference between us as my sister was nearly 13 before I was born)... well, if we can have some passionately held and substantially different viewpoints, then it's safe to say that people on the internet that come from wildly different circumstances are bound to run into areas where they are worlds apart in view.
I do try to be open minded. I try to be logical. I try (and consider myself to be) moderate (because that's just me). I try to understand different points of view... and, yeah, I sometimes still end up with "How in the HELL can you view X, Y, or Z that way? How?!"
I wish I had answers. I don't. I wish that it was possible to fully comprehend how everyone views the world, but it isn't. Sigh. Election season always raises tensions. And, as with the last couple of elections, I'll again try to refrain from discussing politics in my LJ because I use my LJ as a stress reliever and political debates do indeed stress me out. But, my lack of speaking about politics doesn't mean that I have no political opinion. (I think the default icon in my LJ -- as opposed to the one in my post -- makes it apparent what my current position is. But that's probably about as far as I intend to go with politics in my LJ.)
Although, now I have to see my sister tomorrow (because of the game) and either we're going to end up continuing the political argument in person (apparently I've "changed" according to her. Er... no, not really. My beliefs are the same as always, and I see myself as standing by those beliefs. But, I have to say, reading some of her current views feels surreal, so I suppose the same must work in reverse. Although, no, I really haven't changed what I think, even if it's expressed in a way that she didn't anticipate).
*sigh*
At any rate, it's either pretending to sisterly amnesia tomorrow or slogging through another argument, this time face to face, with zero possibility of our changing each others views in any way (we are a family of stubborn people).
