No wonder it is said the pen is mightier than the sword.  My personal view is that it may be so in the long term but short term if all other things are equal, a bigger, stronger brute will overpower.  Once the dust settles reason may prevail, but I am starting to think the age of reason has past and the age of brute force is making hay.
Anyway I read something Leo Tolstoy said that rang a bell with me. “Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself.”
The cry I hear a lot of these days is “we need to make the word a better place.”  I do not think anyone would disagree with that.  The methodology differs though.  What gets me is I see people so angry.  People ready to force change on another.  People who believe they know best with potential catastrophic consequences for others.  People who promote something with a seemingly “hang the consequences” attitude.  Those consequences see people killed, towns destroyed (world wars 1 & 2 showed us that sometimes destruction is necessary to halt the march of evil) and hard earned stolen.  To me so often the cure is as bad as the disease.
I must admit I have trouble with the double standards I see at play.  There seems to be a real willingness to make me comply with certain beliefs but those propagating and promoting them often do not do them unless under a spotlight.
What Tolstoy said is to me what needs to happen.  Changes that last are internal rather than just external.  Internal changes invariably work their way out to external.  What I am is who I am while what I say can differ radically from who I am.
In our system there comes a time when I make a decision concerning who I want in power.  In the meantime, I want to be what I proclaim.  I may espouse treating others with dignity and respect, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating.  If that is who I am then circumstances will not make me otherwise.  If on the other hand treating others with dignity and respect will not get me what I want, then who I am will come to the fore.
I am a part of humanity so I reckon me changing is a good place to start.

It is that time of the week again.  The day I get a James Clear email.  I feel there is pretty well always something to write about in those emails, and today is no exception.
Something he said was something Merril and I mentioned to each other yesterday. “"You draw out of the world what you put into it.  Want to attract reliable people? Be reliable.  Want to attract trustworthy people? Be trustworthy. Want to attract welcoming people? Be welcoming. Want to attract exceptional people? Be exceptional."
We have things going on at our place at the moment.  They include getting a new kitchen and having a granny flat (“The Cabin”) built.  We got some quotes concerning the Cabin and went with someone who at the time we had decided had a good attitude.  We could have gone a bit cheaper but we felt we were just a number reached in giving out quotes.  There was not the same interest, time or effort put into seeing what we wanted.
We felt the guy we went with was welcoming and trustworthy.  It has been interesting to me that they say “you can tell a bit about a person by their friends.”  I do not know if others he has had here in his employment are his friends, or just who he gets to do particular things, but this I know.  Every one of them I have liked.  I even had my bro visiting from the sunshine coast who met the person doing the Cabin, voluntarily comment how friendly the one doing the work was.
I am totally on board when I hear things like “like attracts like.”  I could add to the above “if you want to have friends show yourself friendly.”  To me that is a real key to attracting those of like mind.  The thing is, even when I don’t attract those of like mind, those who want to be that way are included in being attracted.
I consider myself to be a friendly person but any good qualities I have arise out of a new nature.  I know no matter how much I may pretend to be otherwise, the way I am will come out.  The more I try to change the more I don’t.  So for me it has been replacement of the old with the new.  Change has been an inside job.
We have found the kitchen people, the plumber, the electrician all to be friendly.  When we treat people the way we would like to be treated, there is a giving and working together response.

“Superficiality is the curse of our age….The desperate need today is not a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but deep people.” (Richard Foster)
If by deep is meant ones who do not blindly accept anything told, but those who search out a matter and as much as possible, find contentment in themselves that something is as it is represented, then count me in.  If deep means weird music and one with eyes half closed then that is not me, and I cannot relate. 
Deep to me is intensely practical.  A matter to attempt to solve may be physical or philosophical.  Either way it is approached in a way the simplest or most profound can arrive at a conclusion that satisfies.  I do not hold to the idea that in matters relating to “life, the universe and everything” a 12th century person misses out because of something only found out in the 21st century.
That is hard to say in an understandable way.  I guess what I am trying to say is that the age in which one lives does not determine arrival at a desirable destination.  Sure, things are easier in many ways these days, but I cannot help but think all our learning has made us mad.  So often now I hear “where is common sense?”
I guess I am a bit of a rebel.  One of the key questions I am asking myself at the moment is, “if all these ideas are so good, why is the world not a better place?”  There seems to be a universal feeling worldwide that thing are out of hand.  One of my favourite illustrations I heard somewhere, but forgotten where, is things are like reading a book at dusk.  I get so absorbed in the book, that it is only when I pause and look up that I realize how dark it has gotten.
I know I am not alone.  Those of like mind may appear superficial to some, but there is another side.  A questioning side.  A side not content to accept without question.  A flawed side with a hopeful side.