tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8647562459433740241.post7583477733457727893..comments2023-08-23T08:27:08.039-04:00Comments on UU A Way Of Life: Morning meditation - Restoring right relationshipDavid G. Markhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08336565533124142690noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8647562459433740241.post-85838392981756180742009-01-14T00:30:00.000-05:002009-01-14T00:30:00.000-05:00One more thing. I probably would not be half as fu...One more thing. I probably would not be half as funny as I am if Google, if not God. . . was not very much on my side.<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=UUA+President+Bill+Sinkford+loves.+.+.&btnG=Search&meta=" REL="nofollow">U*Us gotta love it</A> eh? :-)Robin Edgarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06208142626285495635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8647562459433740241.post-15092938098953779222009-01-14T00:22:00.000-05:002009-01-14T00:22:00.000-05:00Obviously I meant to say "my words" at the end of ...Obviously I meant to say "my words" at the end of the third line.Robin Edgarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06208142626285495635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8647562459433740241.post-28305526743969227332009-01-14T00:20:00.000-05:002009-01-14T00:20:00.000-05:00I am too am very happy that Rev. James Ishmael For...I am too am very happy that Rev. James Ishmael Ford finally came around to being a Sensible and Sensitive Sensei, to say nothing of a "Less Than Silencing" Sensei by allowing your words to be read on his Monkey Mind. I consider this to be a significant breakthrough in more ways than one, especially inn terms of how it came about. There was Zero communication between me and Rev. Ford other than the occasional comments that I submitted to his Monkey Mind blog. For him to publish my not unjustified "name calling" was a sign of personal integrity on his part AFAIAC and when someone shows that kind of personal integrity and "owns" my strong personal criticism I can be very forgiving. I look forward to more waging of peace and collaboration with Rev. Ford and other U*U clergy who get finally around to displaying that kind of integrity. This breakthrough gives me a fair bit of hope that significant progress can be made between now and the UUA GA in June. OTOH I am not <A HREF="http://emersonavenger.blogspot.com/2009/01/never-mind-battleships-or-sex-pistols.html" REL="nofollow">holding my breath</A>. ;-)Robin Edgarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06208142626285495635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8647562459433740241.post-43499156485420237752009-01-14T00:09:00.000-05:002009-01-14T00:09:00.000-05:00"You are a funny, funny guy and I appreciate your ..."You are a funny, funny guy and I appreciate your attempts at humor but I suspect that not everyone appreciates it as much as moi."<BR/><BR/>So do I David, hopefully they at least *appreciate* it as in *understand* where I am coming from and what I am talking about. The last few days have been a smoking 16" Iowa Class battleship gun barrel of laughs for me a other people who do appreciate my waggish sense of humour in every sense of the word *<A HREF="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/appreciate" REL="nofollow">appreciate</A>*. I haven't laughed so hard in at least a week or two. :-) In fact, I burst out laughing when I saw your 'Will Robin Edgar, aka, Emerson Avenger, run for UUA President' post earlier today. As you have noted, sometimes you don't know whether to laugh or cry about some of this stuff and I definitely find that laughter is the best medicine, if not medication, for this allegedly crazy, psychotic, nutcase. ;-)Robin Edgarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06208142626285495635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8647562459433740241.post-10194606520604271192009-01-13T09:25:00.000-05:002009-01-13T09:25:00.000-05:00Hi Robin:I am so happy that James if finally allow...Hi Robin:<BR/><BR/>I am so happy that James if finally allowing your words to be read on Monkey Mind. I like James' blog a lot, and you know I tremdously admire and respect you, so it is with great joy that I witness the collaboration and the waging of peace. It gives me great hope.<BR/><BR/>Your post on Emerson Avenger is very witty. I would hope that James has the presence of mind to enjoy it as well.<BR/><BR/>You are a funny, funny guy and I appreciate your attempts at humor but I suspect that not everyone appreciates it as much as moi.<BR/><BR/>All the best,<BR/><BR/>David MarkhamDavid G. Markhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08336565533124142690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8647562459433740241.post-88835386027537393772009-01-12T16:07:00.000-05:002009-01-12T16:07:00.000-05:00Believe it or not Don, I am a quite forgiving man ...Believe it or not Don, I am a quite forgiving man myself.<BR/><BR/>I get a little unforgiving when people reject the forgiveness I offer them, obstinately refuse to admit harm done, and punish me for complaining about the harm done. I am still waiting for a sincere and comprehensive "I'm sorry" from my former "church" and the UUA.<BR/><BR/>As it happens I did a little bit of <A HREF="http://emersonavenger.blogspot.com/2009/01/could-rev-james-ishmael-ford-aka.html" REL="nofollow">fairly generous unsolicited forgiving</A> within the last few hours.Robin Edgarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06208142626285495635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8647562459433740241.post-62726965075065443182009-01-12T13:14:00.000-05:002009-01-12T13:14:00.000-05:00I hope people from your former church will reach o...I hope people from your former church will reach out to you and admit the harm done. An 'I'm sorry' would be a nice beginning because I know your a forgiving man.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8647562459433740241.post-12826604973958731602009-01-11T20:47:00.000-05:002009-01-11T20:47:00.000-05:00Come to think of it David your "morning mediation"...Come to think of it David your "morning mediation" typo might have been quite appropriate for this particular blog post. Quite regrettably mediation and other responsible conflict resolution procedures have not been a U*U Way of Life in my own and other people's experience of U*Uism, hence the <A HREF="http://emersonavenger.blogspot.com/search?q=status+quo" REL="nofollow">status quo</A>. . . ;-)Robin Edgarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06208142626285495635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8647562459433740241.post-91696890628063168662009-01-08T13:24:00.000-05:002009-01-08T13:24:00.000-05:00You said it Kelly. Being a "miracle worder" and al...You said it Kelly. Being a "miracle worder" and all I call any such non-apology apology a <A HREF="http://emersonavenger.blogspot.com/2006/02/rev-ray-drennans-sorry-excuse-for.html" REL="nofollow">sorry excuse for an apology</A>. :-)Robin Edgarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06208142626285495635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8647562459433740241.post-75199036762878102602009-01-08T11:47:00.000-05:002009-01-08T11:47:00.000-05:00Your post today brings to mind the non-apology apo...Your post today brings to mind the non-apology apology, which goes like this: "I’m sorry if anything I’ve done/said has hurt you." Or worse: "I’m so sorry you feel that way." These are both close cousins of the political non-apology: "We regret that mistakes were made." None of these weasely constructions actually name the sin or accept responsibility, and tend to be more infuriating than helpful in their blatant refusal to honestly address the issue at hand.Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01879666648303916578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8647562459433740241.post-56157223922326726542009-01-08T09:58:00.000-05:002009-01-08T09:58:00.000-05:00Very well said David. There is a particular Archbi...Very well said David. There is a particular Archbishop Desmond Tutu quote that I like which addresses these issues however a Google search failed to find the exact quote on the internet and I do not remember it all. It was a fairly long quote. Thankfully Archbishop Tutu has said pretty much the same thing in somewhat different words than that quote and my Google search found these variations on the theme -<BR/><BR/>How could anyone really think that true reconciliation could avoid a proper confrontation? When a husband and wife or two friends have quarreled, if they merely seek to gloss over their differences or metaphorically paper over the cracks, they must not be surprised that in next to no time they are at it again, hammer and tongs, perhaps more violently than before because they have tried to heal their ailment lightly.<BR/><BR/>True reconciliation is based on forgiveness, and forgiveness is based on true confession, and confession is based on penitence, on contrition, on sorrow for what you have done. We know that when a husband and wife have quarreled, one of them must be ready to say the most difficult words in any language, "I'm sorry" and other must be ready to forgive for there to be a future for their relationship. This is true between parents and children, between siblings, between neighbors and between friends. Equally, confession, forgiveness and reconciliation in the lives of nations are not just airy-fairy religious and spiritual things, nebulous and unrealistic. They are the stuff of practical politics.<BR/><BR/>Those who forget the past, as many have pointed out, are doomed to repeat it. Just in terms of human psychology, we in South Africa knew that to have blanket amnesty where no disclosure is made would not deal with our past. It is not dealing with the past to say glibly, "Let bygones be bygones," for then they will never be bygones. How can you forgive if you do not know what or whom to forgive? When you do know what or whom to forgive, the process of requesting and receiving forgiveness is healing and transformative for all involved.<BR/><BR/>Even for the perpetrators, an easy and light cure will not be effective in going into the roots, into the depths of their psyches. It is actually how human beings operate when we say that guilt, even unacknowledged guilt, has a negative effect on the guilty. One day it will come out in some form or another. We must be radical. We must go to the root, remove that which is festering, cleanse and cauterized, and then a new beginning is a possibility.<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.africanaheritage.com/excerpt_desmond_tutu.asp" REL="nofollow">Source</A><BR/><BR/>end quote<BR/><BR/>We should not be scared with being confrontational, of facing people with the wrong that they have done. Forgiving doesn’t mean turning yourself into a doormat for people to wipe their boots on. Our Lord was very forgiving. But he faced up to those he thought were self-righteous, who were behaving in a ghastly fashion, and called them "a generation of vipers."<BR/><BR/>Forgiveness doesn’t mean pretending things aren’t as they really are. Forgiveness is the recognition that a ghastliness has happened. And forgiveness doesn’t mean trying to paper over the cracks, which is what people do when they say, "Let bygones be bygones." Because they will not. They have an incredible capacity for always returning to haunt you. Forgiveness means that the wronged and the culprits of those wrongs acknowledge that something happened. And there is necessarily a measure of confrontation. People sometimes think that you shouldn’t be abrasive. But sometimes you have to be to make someone acknowledge that they have done something wrong. Then once the culprit says, "I am sorry," the wronged person is under obligation, certainly if he or she is a Christian, to forgive. And forgiving means actually giving the opportunity of a new beginning.<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.speaktruthtopower.org/defend/profiles/profile_11.asp" REL="nofollow">Source</A><BR/><BR/>end quote<BR/><BR/>My only quibble would be that simply saying "I'm sorry" is not always enough to deserve forgiveness and achieve true reconciliation. Some injustices require greater accountability than that and, where it is possible to do so, the implementation of genuine restorative justice that redresses and repairs the harm that has been done by the perpetrator(s) and perpetuator(s). I somewhat dubiously look forward to seeing what UUA President Bill Sinkford learned about truth and reconciliation in his recent trip to South Africa. Your input about my "less than diplomatic" <A HREF="http://emersonavenger.blogspot.com/2009/01/open-letter-to-uua-president-bill.html" REL="nofollow">open letter</A> to him would be appreciated.Robin Edgarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06208142626285495635noreply@blogger.com