Yesterday was my designated day off.  I ended up treating it as such.
I started the day have breaky with a couple of mates. The company was good and the discussions invigorating.  Time flew by and I ended up at home about 10am.
We are looking at getting another car.  We have been for a couple of test drives and have one car we like best.  We saw a you tube video on the competition for that car and we may test drive that vehicle today.
We had a set amount we were willing to pay, taking into account the trade in for what we currently have.  The car we like falls within our specifications.  I really feel we will have made a decision by the end of today and ordered what we want.
I spoke to the salesman and he put in writing all that he offered.  I had said Merril was out and about (which she was) and I would ring him later with any questions.  That happened.
It was interesting in that this salesman in my opinion had personality.  Our previous experience had been like dealing with a robot.  He told me that he had a spring in his step after what we had said to him and our dealings with him.
So a good bit of my day off was comparing different types of vehicles.  The bottom line for me is that we want something Merril feels safe and comfortable in.
I had other things I could have done.  I am writing a job description for a position I am handing over.  I downloaded a couple of examples and downloaded the response to an AI question I posed.   I decided that was all I would be on my day off and will pursue it later.  I informed the person I am handing to, to expect something in writing early next week.
It was not the sort of day one would consider amazing.  It was the sort of day that was a typical everyday day.  I felt ground was made and necessary preparations were made.

To me insisting on my own way is really the highest form of arrogance.  I base who I vote for on the basis of them being closest aligned to my point of view.  Never have I endorsed someone as representing all I represent.  I understand that seeing them in power comes with enacting what I adhere to, and enacting what I do not adhere to but  was a part of the policy platform.
I am thankful that democracy affords me a choice.  I find it interesting that it is the most liberating form of government, but it is the one most under attack today.
All around the world and in a multitude of different scenarios leadership and parties are emerging where it is insisted it is my way or the highway and only thinking like those in power is acceptable.  Governments are emerging that insist on their way as being the only way, and opposition is crushed and made to disappear.
Benign dictatorship can be beneficial when  the lives of everyday people are made better.  To me big problems arise when a dictorship exists only to feather its own nest and deals with opposition based not on what is best for the people, but what is best for the dictarship.
To me it is a situation fraught with danger.  Beliefs trump facts.  Rather than where an idea ends being considered, the idea itself (which may or may not be good) is espoused.  Only one way of solving problems is considered without considering how the idea really ends.
It seems the solution to difficulties emerging is seen as annihilating the opposition not based on proven facts, but on untested beliefs.  Where this takes a turn for the worst is that someone with a grip on power does what they want despite the obvious un-necessary hurt to others being caused - social experiments gone wrong and up till now corrected after a huge human cost.
I will not hold up one party as being THE solution.  Human history is filled with that sort of thing and still problems exist.  Steps forward and back happen (now it seems many steps back are being taken) yet for me unless the human heart is changed the problem will always exist despite good or bad leadership and policies.

Pride is a weird thing. I cannot relate to those who maintain that by their own efforts they have built something great.  That is not to say they have not.  But it is to say that whatever someone achieves is first and foremost the result of a gift.
I think to myself I had nothing to do with who I am and where I was born.  I could have been born unable to communicate.  In one sense to take credit for what I have achieved is ludicrous.  I am just thankful for who I am.
By the same token I do not despise someone for making the most of what they have.  In fact, to me that is the way to go.  It is a waste to forgo what I have been given - for it to remain unused.  It does not matter if I have heaps of talent or minimal. What matters to me is using what I have.
Yet there is another element of pride I reckon is not so grandiose, but is the bain of me and everyone I know. It is the pride of thinking I am better than another.  It may not be said, but my actions can so easily imply it.   It is thinking “I am glad I am not that person” not for the legitimate reason that I enjoy who I am but the thinking that they are the lessor because they have less.
Most of life I can go through without any such thought or attitude.  Fio me it is in unguarded moments that I can say something that reveals an attitude.  It may be a surprise to me, but that does not make it any less real.
Why that is such a surprise and disappointment is that as most know I am a great believer in us all being in this together.  Sure there are people I would not normally associate with.  Some may even be an embarrassment to me as I sure I am to others.
Yet the lowest of the low has dignity.  I feel it is up to me that every chance I get to build up another.  Not by telling lies but by declaring what is but perhaps may not be known by the person.
In a way I feel like I am manifesting what I have delighted to do for much of my life.  That is seek out the hidden and perhaps overlooked.  As far as I am concerned the best of the table is not just for the influential and well known but for the hidden and overlooked.
All being in this together means the highest of the high and lowest of the low.  I am in there somewhere and want to give a hand to those below and above.  It is a good journey I reckon I’m on, and as far as I can, I will assist all in reaching a good place.  Swallowing my pride is good for me and others.