At the very least...be kind

So where I work they are very interested in personality types. I have to admit that at first I thought it was all bogus and sort of a waste of time. But, I took a lot of tests because, you know I work here right. But the thing is the more tests I took the more I became intrigued by it. The stuff is real guys. I mean I am not saying there is no deviation, because obviously there is. Every person is different and everyone grows and changes and all that jazz but...I am an INFJ and dude it is so true. Anyway I am thinking about that because one of the things they say about the INFJ is that we don't like conflict and we avoid it at almost any cost BUT if you push us to far we are very passionate about justice and very unwilling to compromise our ideals.That is exactly how I feel lately about the world in general. I feel like I have been watching so many things happen and I don't want to fight with people and I don't want to cause a ruckus - especially on social media of all places - but I am getting to the point where I feel like things are insane! I am not sure I can be quiet anymore! So here are a few things that might anger some of you but I am going to say them anyway because I strongly feel they are true. Even if you don't agree with me about the issues, please hear my underlying theme about kindness...here goes:

Voting for Donald Trump simply because he is a republican and you think that "anything" is better than someone who is for abortion is RIDICULOUS!!! I am pro-life people. I am literally the biggest baby lover you have ever met. Not only that, I cannot have babies...so the idea of people killing babies hurts me in ways you cannot imagine. That in no way makes me even inch toward EVER considering voting a man as corrupt and deplorable as Donald Trump as the leader of our country! That is one issue. And maybe you have more than one issue, I hope you do. I certainly have more than one problem with him. He is a racist, a sexist, an unkind, horrible man who has proven himself over and over to the be the worst kind of person. At the very least our president should know how to show kindness. At the very least. Donald Trump is not the best we have to offer.

Making fun of and/or light of the issue of bathroom usage for transgender people is not okay. It is not funny and it is certainly not Christian.Don't share silly memes and sign petitions about refusing to shop in stores that are attempting to work with them. These are PEOPLE. I don't care if you agree with them or vehemently disagree with them. That is not what this post is about. There is a group of people, HUMAN BEINGS who are being bullied and harassed while they are attempting to do the most basic of things in the world - use the bathroom. No one wants to make it dangerous for YOU to go to the bathroom, they want to make it NOT dangerous for them. It is a real issue. You have concerns, so do they. Treat it, and them with an ounce of respect. Again, at the VERY LEAST show some kindness and decency. At the very least.

And while I am on a roll...stop making fun of anyone! It isn't funny! Just because people disagree with you doesn't make them free fodder for your jokes. I just told you without any hesitation how much I disagree with Donald Trump, that doesn't mean I feel free to post pictures making fun of him or of people who support him. Just STOP doing that. Stop treating each other like crap! We are all people. We all think different things and have different ideas and different beliefs. We don't have to agree about everything. We don't have to accept everything from everyone either, I am not saying or advocating that. I AM saying that AT THE VERY LEAST we need to start being kind to one another. Life is hard enough. Why do we insist on making it worse? I just don't get it.

Honestly Honest

So I have been pondering for the past few weeks what, if anything, I should write as a wrap up to my last year's focus word of honesty. It was my first year doing 'one word' and I truly enjoyed that experience. I decided to do it again and I have told many others about it. I feel it really did help me focus on one thing that was important to me in a way that resolutions and goals never have. It was an interesting journey, to say the least, but I find myself at a loss  about how to tell it with any amount of success.

My word was honesty and I think for me the biggest part of my journey has been learning what this word means. I thought the year would be about me being honest, but instead it was facing what it means to be honest. What it means to be honest in different contexts and to different people. This year I have been faced with issues and ideas that have really stretched me, in good and bad ways, and they have made me realize that honesty is honestly not always simple.

Where I work certain things are acceptable and others are not. Most of these things are right on target with my personal beliefs so this is a blessing. Occasionally, though, they are not. Occasionally what I think and what the corporate belief is are not the same. What does honesty mean in that situation?

My parents and I have similar differences of opinions about things. They are always open to my views and to discussions about them, but I have no desire to hurt them or to cause them discomfort for my own sake.

Is that dishonest? If I back down for the sake of my job or for the sake of respect for others? Sometimes I think it is. Maybe always it is, but sometimes it is worth it. That is the journey that I have been taking with honesty, though, and I am still on that journey. My year is over but my searching for answers is not. I have faced with honesty that this is an issue in my life. Maybe that is the most honest I can be.