It’s a line my sister used on me once when I made some inane comment. Inane to her and in retrospect I remember it infuriating me. I don’t recall what we were arguing about because it happened so long ago, but that line stuck with me.

We live in an era where people are spewing half baked ideas all the time. How many times have you heard someone obviously parroting stupidity because they think something someone they hold in high esteem has said it or may have it or said that someone in the past said it. Now, whether true, realistic, verifiable or not if it just so happens to fit in that niche that just happens to be inappropriate by today’s woke gauge, the sayer will be impaled and hung out to dry. Words can be taken out of context and the executioner will have destroyed a life.

When I hear such blanket statements that do no one any good, I don’t bother to comeback with my sister’s favorite quote, but opt for silence or exclusion from the conversation.

Why anyone feels the need to repeat such drivel is beyond me, but they do. The truth is almost everyone does it and sadly moi included. Yes, I’ve done it.

It’s human nature to pick and choose what to believe when they (we) hear it. It doesn’t have to be true. It only needs to verify and support what we believe or is in alignment with our own beliefs.

Sometimes, in an effort to be informed, we search. If it resonates with us, we accept it, true or not. We reason, that this or that makes sense to us but in so doing, we fail to accept or, I should say, take into account personal experiences. Everything in life is colored by our own history and surprisingly that of our ancestors.

Like it or not, how they lived or survived is in our genes and influenced by their answers. You may ask how can that be? Think about it. Our parents responses as well as their parents dialogue and responses affected them and passed on to us and ours to our children. Yes, we may choose to respond differently in the future but it still had an effect. Our fears, our loves carry over into everything we do, say or witness.

I think by and large, we are all getting a little tired of all these so called “authorities” making efforts to convince us of this, that or another because our gut will override what we refuse to accept.

Several of my fellow bloggers have been hitting walls with school indoctrination, teachers and peers influencing our children both morally and politically. This will carry over to future generations. Some will be smart enough to observe and listen to that gut. Others will be swayed and tossed about. They may have a gut reaction but like their ancestors they will allow the stronger ones to control and move their lives, like it or not.

Some will say, no, that’s not right and maybe even pose arguments yay or nay to refute a particular stance and yet do nothing and end up just going with the flow.

Wasn’t there a song, years ago …

By Aaron Tippin

In this day and age of social media, so much inaccurate information gets regurgitated that it’s hard to discern fact from fiction. Where and how do you find reliable sources for accurate information? Many times I’ve been challenged by someone, who asks me, where did you get that information. My preferential response is always, “personal experience” or through eyewitness accounts. When I deem necessary to say, “I read it somewhere” but fail to giving a reliable resource, I’m left feeling pretty stupid.

I was never good at debating to begin with so instead I try to live by the saying daddy once taught me, “it is sometimes best to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt”.