127th Edition
Bored with Bubble Gum
For some strange reason, there has been a lull in interesting articles in the Wall Street Journal. You may not have noticed this. Since the Journal has, over the past two years, supplied me with numerous ideas and topics for my weekly blog, this recent development is a bit disconcerting. Perhaps the writers have taken the summer off. Maybe there just isn’t anything interesting happening for them to write about. I really can’t figure it out. Just in the past month or so, some of their noted columnists have written about bubble gum, cigarette smuggling in California, and tollbooths. Like, who cares about that kind of stuff?
Luckily for me I’ve read a couple very interesting books lately so my streak of weekly blogs, currently at 127 in a row and counting, continues…
The first book was “Hitler’s Second Book,” the secret second autobiography of Adolph Hitler that was uncovered in 1958 by Gerhard L. Weinberg. The second was “Ethics” written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I don’t believe it is possible to read about two people who were as diametrically opposed as those two individuals, who, ironically, lived and died during the darkest period surrounding the Second World War. Hitler was a brilliant orator and a charismatic leader. Unfortunately, he was thoroughly evil, a committed racist, and one of history’s worst mass murderers. Bonhoeffer was a gifted orator and theologian, whose books and sermons still resonate today with people who long for spiritual growth and a deeper faith.
We live in a world of extremes. History is laced with human acts of unspeakable horror as well as moments of unbelievable courage and sacrifice. Even in nature, destruction and calamity coexist with exquisite beauty and breathtaking renewal.
But for most of us, life happens between the extremes. And that is what I want to focus on in this edition. I think that maybe the WSJ writers are on to something important that I might have initially missed because at first glance their topics didn’t seem interesting. When we read or watch the news, we naturally pay closer attention to extreme events. Who wants to read about bubble gum when we can watch a video of a race riot or some other outrageous occurrence? We are pulled toward the craziness, perhaps without fully realizing what it does to us. It can make us become angry, polarized, insensitive, and apathetic. It can destroy our sense of community. What can follow is an attitude that everything has to be viewed through an extreme lens. Politics, social issues, world affairs, climate change, and pandemics, are all under the spell, so to speak, of extreme ideology.
Back in the early 1980s, I went to the World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee with a friend from college. On the way home we stopped at her house and her uncle asked me how our day went. I got a little carried away trying to make our day at the fair sound more memorable than it was. He turned to me and said, “Last week I found a dollar’s worth of throat lozenges.” I’ve remembered that embarrassing moment ever since.
We don’t need to embellish or search for cataclysmic stories in order to connect with people. Being truthful, kind, and humble works much better. We don’t need to find groups of people to label and despise. Being compassionate, forgiving, and gracious works much better. We don’t need to be obstinate and inflexible regarding our viewpoints. Being introspective, objective, and adaptable works much better.
When we aren’t appalled, thrilled, and amazed, our mindset changes. Our heart rate drops, our pace slows, and we become more contemplative. Good things usually follow. Personal connections and relationships are strengthened. Perhaps we might try each day to find something that is, on the surface, completely uninteresting. Stick with it for a while. Share the stillness and simplicity with someone else. Be bored together. Be in the moment. Look around, find common ground. You might even find a dollar’s worth of throat lozenges…
Please help me grow my readership by forwarding this to a friend(s). In the meantime, stay tuned for my next newsletter. Thanks
Michael Kayes
*These views are my personal opinions and are not the viewpoints of any company or organization.