Closed

The word for the dictionary is directly opposite to what I had to do to get a word from the dictionary.  The word my finger fell on this time is “closed.”  But the dictionary needed to be “open” to come to that word.
It happens less these days but for me it was always a downer to arrive at a shop and find it closed.  It would mean there was no change of it happening as I pictured.  There is a good chance that in my mind I had pictured going into that particular shop, finding and getting what I wanted and leaving.  (If I were some it would be, going into a particular shop, examining what was on every shelf, and getting what I wanted plus a multitude of things I did not know I wanted.)
Whatever the case the shop being closed changes everything.
The last time I remember that happening was arriving early at a shop to find it not open yet.  Without fail I am not the only one.  A group of us wait.  Then we hear the sound we have all been waiting for.  The doors opening.
I went to a dentist, and I was really surprised to find it closed.  The advertised time it opened was past and my appointment was 10 minutes later.  So I sat and waited.  Then someone emerged and opened the door from the outside with a key.  They had forgotten to open the door and the place had remained closed.
Some societies are “closed.”  I can think of one in particular that attempts to have the outside world know as little about it as can be known.  Whether it is admitted or not, every society is closed to some degree.  Not the whole story is told but just what those in power want heard.
There seems to me to be a reassessment happening about how “open” we want to be.  The buzz words have been “open society” and “level playing field.”  While those aspiration may have been noble, we have been asking ourselves “do we really want to be vulnerable to a change happening elsewhere and it limiting our access to what is necessary for us.”  It seems to me there is a direction happening where we as much as we can align ourselves with those of like mind in an attempt to guarantee the supply of what we need.  Or where we can we dream of making it for ourselves.
Something is also said to be a “closed book.”  That to me speaks of something not being negotiable.  It is the way it is and I either embrace it if I agree or attempt at best to co-exist with it.
Some closed books to me are good.  The last thing I want is an oscillating between views when the view taken is healthy and proper.  I find though, when views are held to and they are contrary to what is right for all rather than just convenient for some, and the attitude is “closed” then the best I can do is walk away and endeavour to limit the influence.
That to me is really like people being “closed.”  Not countenancing alternatives.  To me an open person is one who at the very least will hear and consider alternative views.  Minds do not need to alter.  I know for myself sometimes I need to adjust my view while for other things alternatives reinforce my view.
What is important to me is that I remain open, always motivated by love, rather than closed and tight fisted.