Homestead mailing list

["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT gmail.com>]

On 12/10/06, Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com> wrote:
> Ah, but Bev, which is the best belief pattern to carry one through
> life? When you open the door to chance, you give up on being in
> charge of your life. And in doing so you give up responsibility. The
> same condition exists when one says that their favorite god is in
> charge, not them.
I don't think so. Not all. Of course things happen to us that are out
of our control. We all make some bad choices, some a lot bigger and
badder than others. That doesn't mean that we give up responsibility.
As with everything in life, there's a middle ground, and the only
thing to do is to be responsible with the situation we have.

Thinking that it's all chance or all choice is the kind of black &
white thinking that can really screw with people's minds -- and for no
reason at all. Chance is always operating and so is choice.

In a perfect world, we could always foresee problems ahead and plan
for every contingency. Lynda would have always carried a shovel to dig
around in the sand at the bottom of the slide in the park, for
example. Or better yet, she'd never let her kids use public
facilities. I don't think that's the way we want to live (although my
mother has a hired man who operates pretty much like this, and we're
all waiting for the day that he either becomes immobile because he's
trying to cover all eventualities or goes ape shit out of frustration
and has to be taken away in restraints).

Marie