To Learn Is To Burn

I have learned many things. Some things I’ve learned are truths that apply to me and my specific lessons in my own life and other truths are ones I can apply to life as a human being on planet Earth. I am a philosophical kind of person who also loves to teach, so whenever I learn something that applies to us all, I will generally find a way to write it down or put it in my ‘act’. My act being everything I present to the world on the stage of life. I have found over the years that I have condensed the general truths down to be pretty concise and also found myself hearing myself say the same condensed truths again and again. I have thought of numbering them and almost feel like I could just respond with a “Number 6” when it comes time for me to respond, but that might feel too arrogant so I haven’t yet. My family and friends have heard me say some things so many times, that’s all I would have to say for them to get my response. I love to write. I don’t love talking as much as I used to because my teeth are horrendous now, so writing is a perfect way for me to convey my expressions. What I have allowed myself to put into practice from my most recent spike in awareness of personal lessons, is how to argue even less with my sister. it used to be unthinkable to allow my Sister Laura to say something that wasn’t right or correct about me or anything for that matter. She has her version of me she re-tells to me and if it isn’t accurate, I HAVE to set her straight. This week for the first time, I let her be wrong. I let her think something that wasn’t quite true. I let it go. She and I can go from being best friends one moment and hating each other’s guts the next. Usually, our disagreeing with each other ends up with me having to leave the room and fume in another. It is destructive to our relationship we have fought long and hard to try and get along in, and disruptive to the household, and painful personally. We are no spring chickens and it’s hard to believe how childish and petty the disagreements between us can be. Our family and friends can only lower their shaking heads. It’s embarrassing. For them. We don’t care what anybody thinks about it, because to us it’s like being accused of murder when we are totally innocent. We vie for justice to the bitter end. As it turns out, it is much better to let someone be wrong about something that really, is of no consequence, save for having to steal back an item of clothing or see something illegally transferred in ownership sitting in her room or in her things, but aside from that no other harm is felt. The alternative and our choice for all the years that have come before it; is hurt feelings, time taken out of the game, (games we have to play together in the ‘act’ of life)+ being delayed or canceled all together and having lingering thoughts and feelings about hurtful things either she or I said to each other in the heat of the argument. Some of those things never go away and are fertile ground for future arguments. Today it is a delicate dance of diffusing, diverting, and de-prioritizing on our part, so we can get along. Going on in life with your family still very connected to yourself and your life is tough. It’s hard to forget all that you know about a family member and just let them be themselves, their ‘new’ selves, without reminding them who they were, who they’ve always been before. But it is a more evolved adaptation I believe it is a better method of getting along. Difficult people are everywhere in life and it would have been nice if at some point along the indoctrination (domestication) process (school), they would have taught us a bit on How To Get Along With Difficult People because they are everywhere. Notice the capitals? The title of my next blog. Or is it an article?