Complexity
Not everything is black and white
I remember going to a particular neighbors’ house to see the annual showing of the Wizard of Oz because they were the only people on the street with a color TV. It was a treat when the rest of us just had black and white TVs. You would be missing out if you did not go so the place was crowded.
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Nowadays everybody has color, plus all sorts of enhancements, but somehow we tend to ignore the colorful reality of nature all around us. We certainly enjoy the fall colors and the carpets of leaves along our streets. But we miss the variety in the trail picture above, thinking “it’s just green”.
It’s not “just green” it contains several varieties of green, plus multiple types of plants, and is an example of the tremendous diversity of nature, even just in our back yards. There are variety of textures, shapes, growth patterns, as well as food and shelter possibilities for the fauna that exists within the floral arrangements. The patterns shift with the changing seasons and weather conditions — bright sunshine look differs from a rainy afternoon or a foggy morning.
Hidden in this particular landscape are coyotes (usually only heard), rabbits and squirrels, and various types of birds, from small robins to nosy crows and overflying geese, ducks, and even blue herons, often seen nesting.
In the same way many issues in our modern world must be understood as complex. War, peace, economic growth, social justice all can be debated and must be understood carefully to allow for the complexities to be understood. Multiple viewpoints are possible. And as always, the effects upon real life flesh and blood people must be considered. Policy is not just numbers and rules, but each action affects peoples’ lives and livelihoods. We must consider not only how it affects us, but how it will affect others, especially those whose life experiences may be radically different from ours.
In the upcoming election cycle please carefully consider your choices and how they may affect the whole community, not just your own situation. Not just how it will affects in the present but how it will affect the next generation.
