First of all, I wish there weren't two threads on this topic, but this BBS format required that the thread be posted before the poll, and then unbeknownst to me gave me only 5 minutes to post a poll with the thread. By the time I overcame the ridiculously small number of poll answer characters allowed per choice, 5 minutes had barely elapsed. If the site administrators could combine the two threads with the poll into one thread without losing ANY content, that would be great. But my guess is that can't be done.
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Now, regarding the initial post and the seven items ...
... the point is that it requires that we give in order to get.
Items 1, 3 and 4 are generally favored by social conservatives and opposed by social liberals.
Items 5, 6 and 7 are generally favored by social liberals and opposed by social conservatives.
Item 2, the death penalty, was once like items 1, 3 and 4, but nowadays both social liberals and social conservatives favor the death penalty, with but a handful of old-guard liberals and new-guard WWJD conservatives opposing it.
I puposely assembled a list of items that each side would want and each side wouldn't want, to see what people would do.
Would people let go of their neuroses to champion their more humane and progressive causes ... or would fear rule the day.
So far it is clear that the fear of fear itself is the ruler with most of you.
I'm seeing a ton of "what I couldn't accept" and little of "I favor these".
Indeed, though only one of you has voted in the poll (in favor of Scrooge) (yes, I'm the lone Tiny Tim voter), your posts indicate there's no way you could vote for all seven, even for a few weeks, even to gain what many of you would consider important gains in vital matters.
The holidays are about peace on earth ... but peace on the outside between people must begin with peace on the inside ... and peace on the inside is incompatible with the paranoia that must first be relenquished ... paranoia which I believe to be manifested in some of your fear-based posts.
Love means letting go of fear ... or at least that's what Jampolsky says.
Whether that is true or not, it does take trust to move forward ... and fear only holds us back.
I believe most of the fear associated with reticence to give in order to get is manufactured in the minds of the fearful, and does not for a moment reflect the realities outside those minds.
In order to get, you will have to give.
In order to trust, you will have to let go of fear.
The message during the holiday season is to give trust a chance.
Peace.
