Rappahannock News eEdition

Without balance, uneven chaos ensues

B S G

The writer lives in Washington

CHAOS — Where Great Dreams Begin, with symbol at le , is a visual I have propped on a bookcase to remind me of possibilities. The quote beneath the art states, “Before a great vision can become reality there may be di culty. Before a person begins a great endeavor, they may encounter chaos. As a new plant breaks the ground with great di culty, foreshadowing the huge tree, so must we sometimes push against di culty to bring forth our dreams”(I-Ching).

When I began to read Dwayne Yancey’s Commentary in last week’s Rappahannock News, where he described people from opposite sides of the political world here in America and how they unhesitatingly worked together to resolve a time sensitive issue, I was heartened, believing that chaos would be able to give way to that plant breaking through on its way to becoming the great tree.

Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed when, two thirds of the way through, Mr. Yancey veered o the balance he illustrated in his beginning by introducing a singular example of one Republican, Rep. Bob Good of Virginia, quoted as saying about Democrats, “It’s an evil that must be defeated…”

Where is the balance Mr. Yancey was touting at his beginning? A er Mr. Good, where are the quotes in which the current President of our United States, Mr. Joe Biden, calls a high number of Republicans as “semiFacists” and, “…a danger to democracy” during a nationally televised address in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania? Where is the statement the current New York Governor, Mrs. Kathy Hochel, made during her recent election campaign, telling Republican citizens of her state that she didn’t want their vote, that they should move away? These statements are part of the chaos as well, and would have given balance to the commentary.

How might some address the chaos imbalance? I’m reminded again of the movie “Twelve Angry Men” I wrote about in a Jan. 28, 2021, Letter to the Editor in this newspaper. In the movie, 11 of the jurors appear to want to decide on a guilty verdict and go home. One solitary juror, number eight, refuses to go along with the quick verdict without discussing the evidence presented during the trial. Discussing the many sides more completely, the jurors came to a completely di erent verdict and the defendant was acquitted.

As citizens of this county and of our country, don’t we bear the same responsibility to read, listen to, all aspects of the chaos we are experiencing so we can make a balanced and critical thinking decision to emerge out of the chaos that envelopes so much?

We are approaching the winter solstice soon, a time when nature pauses and gathers its resources to emerge into the spring sunlight, much as the tiny plant breaks through its soil on its way to becoming the mighty tree. Might we, too, pause and gather our resources to be well informed and emerge in the spring of 2023 on the best way out of chaos and into achieving great dreams. Together, we can.

COMMENT

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2022-12-01T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-01T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://rappahannocknews.pressreader.com/article/281724093570620

Rappahannock News