Let me decide for myself

Very often I have  to decide what image is the one I want to keep.  I don’t need two or three, which would make the things much easier. Only one. “He who has a choice, has a torment”.

It helps when I know exactly what the image will be used for.  Below, there are two photographs of the same swan – the cropped one is a header image. That is easy.

swan

swan

Sometimes I have two things that I have to choose between, and neither of them is good. It is like you have to choose what house you have to move in, and these are your only options:

house

house

Choosing between two imperfect things is a difficult choice most of voters have to deal with…

In modern society, The Media tells people how to live and what to think. Many of those who imagine themselves free, independent and having their own opinion, are in fact tied up with the choices someone else has made for them. If it is not enough, they are also helpfully provided with the motivations for these choices. You just have no choice but accept ‘your’ choice, so to speak, remaining disillusioned and unaware. It is not the way choice operates. At the very least, people have to use their own knowledge, experience and intuition, and exercise judging, selecting and rejecting before they call the choice ‘theirs’. No cheating.

Recently I came across a quote. American comedian Sandra Bernhard said the following: ‘I am very much a humanist. I am very much pro-choice. I am very much politically correct”.

I hope she was joking.

Power of choice is one of the most important principles in our life. Freedom of choice is one of the most important values in society. Pro-choice (the same as pro-life, if you wondered) labels are just what they are – the labels, and one of their purposes is to divide society. Why would you want anything that divides your nation?

I am not finished with Sandra Bernhard yet.

I beg you to never be ‘politically correct’! Please, if you are not naturally kind, caring, cultured; if you are tactless, if you often have a cause to regret your words and justify yourself – don’t be discouraged, and don’t replace all of this with the ‘politically-correct’ label on your sleeve. Make your own choice to become a genuinely better person, not a properly labeled hypocrite.

And again, if you wondered, I am too far from being that ideal person, but I rather die trying to become one, than humiliate another fellow human by being ‘politically correct’ towards him or her.

“Truth without love is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy.” 
Warren W Wiersbe

Please, don’t demand ‘political correctness’. You are manipulated without knowing that. Stick to the good people, earn respect, have your goals to focus on. People might try to offend you now and then, but that happens with all of us, no exceptions, because it is what some people choose to do.

Here is a quote to those who are difficult to deal with.

“He who takes offense when no offense is intended is a fool, and he who takes offense when offense is intended is a greater fool.”
Brigham Young

Each of us has been that fool at least once 😉

And the third quote is

“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”
Marcus Aurelius

These three quotes mean that my blogging friend Sarah at  Sarah Potter Writes has nominated me for 3 Days 3 Quotes Challenge 🙂 Thank you so much, Sarah! Hope you don’t mind that I wrote only one blog post instead of three.

The rules:

  1. Thank the person who nominated you.
  2. Post one fresh quotation on three consecutive days.
  3. On each of the three days, nominate three folk who have not yet taken part to continue the challenge.

Sarah Potter is a fantasy and science fiction author – and much much more. Please, visit and follow Sarah’s blog.

There are my nominees. Don’t feel obliged 🙂

http://nananoyz5forme.com/

https://aquileana.wordpress.com/

http://bunkaryudo.com/

https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/

https://socialbridge.wordpress.com/

http://thelindenchronicles.com/

https://milliethom.wordpress.com/

https://shehannemoore.wordpress.com/

http://jeanleesworld.com/

Hope you greet these bloggers like the pirates from De Stormvogels, Holland, greeted me 🙂

de stormvogels

Have a wonderful weekend!

125 comments

  2. A difficult topic. I agree that PC doesn’t reflect anything but a superficial attitude and adherence to a bland code. Of course the horror of the abuse that took place in the past (and still now) and how to deal with people who are less than enlightened and with those who deserve protection are other issues and sometimes the solutions proposed only make matters worse. Great quotes and thanks for making us think

    1. Difficult it is. I have been thinking of Dr. King a lot lately. If he were still alive, our society might be very different than it is now.

    1. Thank you so much Indah! You have traveled enough to know how important is being tactful and respectful, and not only towards humans, but the whole world 🙂

  6. Ralph Waldo Emerson would have loved your post and your photos, I’m sure, Inese. Thank you for another thought provoking post! Mr. Emerson once said:

    “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

  8. Lovely post, Inese, that has certainly inspired people to comment. I try to be genuine and kind, versus politically correct and nice. So much comes down to conscious choice and the responsibility that choice entails whether we like it or not. Finding our authentic voices is part of age, I think. 🙂

    1. Thank you for your comment, and I agree about the age. But what if we start early? 🙂
      I think that the first step is caring. It is difficult to feel offended by a person who genuinely cares about me.

  10. Divide and rule, that Latin saying, has been understood by politicians for a long time. Now we also have political correctness to divide us, as you aptly point out. Excellent post.

  11. Beautiful words and images! The responsibility of making a choice can be hard but when we know what we want it for and what we want from our choice; it makes it easier to follow through with our decision =)

  13. I really enjoyed this post, Inese. There was a lot to think about in it. I must admit, I’m not sure if I’m politically correct or not. I think it may be one of those terms that has taken on a life of its own and now different people mean quite different things by it. For that reason, I think it may be better to ditch it altogether.

    Perhaps the best I can do instead is to try to explain what kind of person I endeavor to be (though not always successfully). I try to be someone who is polite and civil toward other people and avoids hurting their feelings whenever I can. However, I also hope that in situations when unpleasant truths have to be told, I will not shy away from them.

    It seems to me that this is what tact is for.

    1. Thank you for your comment! It is exactly what I think too. I am not an angel, and I wasn’t born very tactful ( some people are). The only thing I can do, is to work hard on improving my own character- to be more observant, more thoughtful, more kind towards others. As you say, hiding unpleasant truth is not an option, but if you have earned a reputation of a good man, and if you are tactful, the truth won’t hurt too much. Thank you again for commenting.

  14. Oh my goodness Inese, this is one of the best post I have read this year. Probably last year too. It is so profound and honest and you shine right through it. Political correctness is a pain in the butt, I would rather die than ever be politically correct. It is also one of these things certain people steer rudderless to. You are so kind to nominate me. Telling you now this post is one hard act to follow!!!!!!!!!!! xx

    1. Thank you so much for your kindest comment! PC is one of the biggest lies ever invented. It divides society and humiliates both parties, it highlights differences instead of similarities, and much more 😦 Next week I will post the second part of it, and hope I wont’ touch this subject again soon.

    1. Well said 🙂 And if me being true is an unpleasant experience for the others, I have to work on improving my character, but remain true:)

  16. hi the quote challenge is cool, I did it last November/December, and a few friends thought it was most un-PC to have written relatively positive things about Richard Wagner haha! I like your Brigham Young quote, all about keeping one’s cool 🙂

    1. Isn’t our life too complex to label it? And you know what – I would be very unhappy if my neighbors were PC with me. It is like highlighting our differences.
      Oh that quote is special. All of us are guilty 🙂

  19. Hi dear Inese…
    Accurate thoughts …. I agree with you, particularly when you say that choosing between two imperfect things is a difficult choice most of voters have to deal with… Most times, the results are explained by this imperfect option, so to speak…
    thanks for nominating me… I am saving the link and will post on it… I hope you don´t mind if I take my time… but I will definitely post the challenge… hugs and happy sunday. Aquileana ! 🙂

    1. Thank you for your comment, dear Aquileana. I agree with you completely. In this blog I just touched the subject. In my next blog I will finish the discussion. Have a great week ahead!
      Take whatever time you need. We are all busy.
      Hugs! Inese

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