thoughts on conflict...

Just got back from WI and that was kind of okay. Not as good as I was hoping. Long drive,too. Got caught in 2 hr. traffic in chicago both ways and then got detoured in KY for two hours.

But the time was good and I saw my parents and that was nice. Tim went along with me and so of course we found ways to entertain ourselves. Watched a movie, played some pool, had some beers.

Talked a lot about the psychology of interaction. A person's behavior can be very influential to the others around him/her. A person who walks into a bookstore with a crappy attitude will have the tendency to treat other people crappy and those people will be affected, and may likely become crappy as well... like the incident I spoke of in the car parts store.

I find that love is very powerful because of what it can accomplish and what it can teach the person feeling love. The more you genuinely love something, the more genuinely interested you become in it and the more you learn about it and understand it. The less you consider yourself in a situation, the more you keep on the outside by not involving yourself. The intensity of love is determined by the issues that divide two individuals.

Watch any kind of fighting match (boxing, ufc, etc...) and the guy with more hatred for his opponent will lose. He summarizes the person into a simple image and hates him without considering his ability.

The man who loves his opponent will learn him and understand him the moment they meet. It's easy to defeat someone who hates you because anyone who hates is unintelligent and wrong. If he doesn't know you, he can't hate you for any reason that even has to do with you. He hates you for his own reasons... and I laugh with that person, because there is nothing else to do but counteract his absurd hateful action with an absurd loving one.

Hatred is easier than love, because it doesn't take any work; just one lazy decision.

But love is more rewarding because it requires a sacrifice. You have to knock yourself down a notch for that Thing you love, and sometimes that can hurt, especially when you aren't at the top of anyone else's proverbial ladder.

I hope I am never again at the top of someone else's ladder (I'm sure my parents felt this way at one time). I would feel it was wasted on me :)