Hello, bloggers.
One of the issues I’ve given a lot of thought and meditation to over the last period of time is the concept of a one-issue phenomenon translated into a one-issue life.
A lot of people focus on one issue and let that define them, whether it be a left-wing cause, a right-wing cause, abortion, the death penalty, the environment, whatever.
If you allow your life to be defined by one issue, it seems to me that it’s a very easy place to live in. Every day you get up in the same situation, you never have to change anything around, it’s always right there in the same place. Open the top drawer, and there it is!
Always knowing where you are, where you’re going, what you think of this or that.
If we progress towards that kind of society, then what would that society be like?
Say I find myself going to a party, walking in the door, and an acquaintance of mine grabs me and brings me over to one of their great friends and says to them: “Friend, I’d like you to meet Matt Lamb!”
And instead of extending their hand, they look at me and say:
“Well, Mr. Lamb, what do you think of chicken wings? Should they be eaten right out of the box, or should they be dipped in a strong sauce first? Or would just ketchup do? Or should they only be put on a fine plater of the best china and served with silver knives and forks? After each bite, should you wipe your mouth or not? When you’re done eating, should you put them in a refrigerator or pull the meat off and feed it to the dog? This is very important to me. Please let me know exactly where you stand on the chicken wing situation!”
So I say to them, “I have absolutely no idea.”
And they say, “You oaf! Why would I meet someone who doesn’t give a damn about chicken wings?”
Then someone intervenes and says to the person: “But wait... You know Mr. Lamb, he gave one of his kidneys to a person in Sri Lanka who needed one to live. And then he gave away his millions to work in the soup kitchen 7 days a week!”
And the person responds: “Do they serve chicken wings in the soup kitchen?”
It’s so easy to be so sure about one particular thing and live your whole life around that issue, never going forward or backwards, but completely content to sit in your iron box.
God keep me from the one-issue person. I’d like to hear them out, but if I did, then I’d have 100,000 others behind them, each one with their own pet issue. Maybe by the end of the century I would have learned a little bit about some things, but I wouldn’t know diddly-squat about anything.
Then again, I might be more rounded in my opinions.
Matt