Saturday, February 23, 2013

what is and what is not

I'm struggling these days with what is my responsibility and what is not.

Am I my brothers' keeper?  Yes, and my sisters' keeper, too, though sisters have uteri and we all know that complicates matters.

Am I responsible, personally and in my life as a citizen, for my brothers' and sisters' repeated mistakes?  No.  Only for the first, oh, I dunno, six?  Sure.  Six.

Am I responsible for responsibly arguing my case in the face of despotic hate?  Yes.

What about plain old everyday I-hate-your-guts {spit::spit} hate?  Yes.  And no spitting back in private, either.

Am I responsible for maintaining my rationality at all cost, despite the piling on of fast lies and ignorant assertions -- in all cases, or only in cases where the verbiage has an ill-prepared and gullible audience?  Yes, and yes, in all the cases, no matter how it breaks my heart.

Heartbreak is no excuse for anything.

Am I responsible for keeping my heartbreak to myself, as the world is over-burdened with those refrains?  I think "yes," and I do otherwise.

Heartbreak is no excuse, but it is.  So I try harder.

Am I responsible for learning something every day, or however many years it takes, some things being mercurial, some things in constant evolution, revolution?  ["Yes, but you are also responsible for your own mercurial nature, your own whirligigs of revolutions, and for how things change," says Stern Me to Me-Eyeballing-The-Exits.]

Am I responsible for rushing, laughing, excited, to share it with you?  No.

Am I responsible for listening, fascinated, laughing, and excited -- eyes a-gleaming, when you run to me to share your new-found, new-learned thing?  Yes, yes, yes, I am.

Am I responsible for taking your inventory?  No.  But I do it anyway.  Guffaw!

Am I responsible for being as Seussian as possible, whenever possible?  Yes, as are we all.

Am I responsible for the Earth, the Moon, the Stars, and all the jazz?  Probably, as we are all Seussian, and Planetary Citizens -- both -- grooving to the beat, the beat, the beat.

But I'm not reponsible for your happiness, only for doing my best not to ever pose as its obstacle, only for ever cheering it on.

So how did this become "my" side, and that, "yours"?

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