And following up from that...

[fpb]

...I wish the Americans among you to be freed from both moronic extremes - stupid conservatives are as bad as the moral imbeciles they oppose - and the rest of us a civilized, peaceful and useful New Year. The right moral path may not always be clear, but it never passes through ignorance, self-admiration and contempt for your neighbours.

Happy 2006, everyone!

Comments

[avus.livejournal.com]

The right moral path may not always be clear, but it never passes through ignorance, self-admiration and contempt for your neigbours.

Quite true -- the longer I live, the more true this seems. And of course we share a strong belief that one of our most sacred duties -- and I use both words deliberately -- is working our hardest to discern that "right moral path".

You have given some guidelines when we stray. A few things that might indicate we're on the right track. It's a quote that I think I shared w/ dear and wise (I agree w/ you) bufo_viridis, and it's from one of the Old Testament prophets -- I've forgotten which one -- and I fear I remember it only in the King James Version: "What does the Lord require of thee? But to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."

Good thoughts.

Another guideline -- much harder for me to learn & hang onto, though I've not stopped trying; I can at least get a little better at it in the decades I hope I have left -- is to remember that no one side, liberal or conservative, or whatever opposites one can choose -- has All The Answers. Often in trying to genuinely hear the Other Side, whomever that might be, and not as a conflict, but as the start of a dialogue, a discussion, I find I'm most likely to be on the path that's "righter", morally.

Not, as I said, that I'm always able to pull it off.

All the best in the New Year,

avus

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I think the prophet in question is Micah. And given that my Church has a dogma called Infallibility, I am almost tempted to start a discussion about having or not having answers... but nevermind. Happy New Year!