lately i have to wonder

I wonder if I should even bother to blog at all anymore.
My thoughts may be a bit on the maudlin side today, but tough.
If you don't like it, you have many options.
You can delete me off your reading list. You can leave me a comment.
Or you can just rip around the house and rant about me.
I really don't care.

I am thoroughly disgusted.
If you know me at all, and most of you probably don't, you'll know that I don't get mad.
I don't get worked up about much. I shrug things off. Sometimes I'm capable of getting on a bandwagon before I really should, but most times I prefer to sit and listen. I love to hear how other folks' brains swirl their ideas around in their heads and what the result is when it finally can't help but eject itself in the form of speech.

I enjoy a debate (maybe even a good argument!) as long as it is based on facts and not name calling. I am not political in my thinking. My family takes care of that for me, even if we are usually on opposite sides of the fence. There are enough of them that are active and I've had enough opportunites to ingest so much that I am severely jaded and disillusioned in my thoughts when it comes to politics.

I do vote. I research the issues and the candidates before I head to the polling place to cast my ballot. I vote for what I believe is right for myself and my country. I vote my belief system. It is my right and my duty, one that was hard fought for by Americans before me.

What I don't understand is this.

In the past days I have been called judgemental. Actually I could keep writing about all the collective judgemental I've been called in the last months. I will stick to the most recent.

What does it mean to be judgemental? I did a quick search online and found any number of dictionaries with definitions to please most people. Today's internet access is something else! I chose Merriam Webster because I think they may just be a bit more credible than Urban Dictionary or the like. I'm also not going to define the word judgemental for you, rather I'm going to use two synonyms provided that are easy to understand: faultfinding and critical.

If I replace the word judgemental with the faultfinding and critical, and I look around the world that exists outside of my little orbit I find interesting things.

• I am not critical of anyone who chooses to drink flavored or foofoo coffee from Starbucks just because I always take mine black.
• If you live in a huge house in a gated neighborhood, more power to you. I don't but I'm happy for you.
• If you live in a one room cabin and drive a bicycle, come have coffee with me.
• If today you are my friend and your hair is brown, tomorrow your hair is blonde, and the next day it might be streaked pink, the person inside you didn't change. You are still my friend. I might raise my eyebrows at the pink because I'm not crazy about pink hair, but you're still my friend. Just because I don't like pink hair doesn't mean that I will tell you what you can and cannot do. That was your choice. If you are under 18 and are my child ... that is another discussion completely.
• If you decide that eating meat isn't your thing and you decide to be vegan or vegetarian, I won't understand the choice. I love meat. Just because I love meat and you won't eat it anymore, does it make me critical or is it just a difference in choices?
• If I choose to drive a Prius, whether it is because I like the gas mileage or want to save the planet, and you drive a gas hog .... I don't care.
• If you love animals and want a houseful of them, go for it. If it includes the feline version, I probably won't come over to visit you. Not because I'm critical of the fact that you have 20 different breeds of critter living in your house, rather I'm allergic to long haired cats and won't come out the front door alive. You can have as many as you like. I can't come over to visit you. We each have to make our own choices.
• If you choose to eat organic foods and won't consume anything else, then you probably shouldn't join my table for dinner. You can eat at home and come for dessert. I really won't find fault with you. Please don't find find fault with me that my grocery budget doesn't include those things.
• If your belief system is Mormon, Buddhist, Catholic or any other myriad of religions in this world (or none at all) ... embrace it. I have the right to embrace the religion of my choice just as you do.

I am allowed to have my own thoughts, ideals and beliefs. Those are mine. This is not a country where those are controlled. As long as I don't steam roll you with them and try to make them yours, then leave me alone.

Today I sat in a class all day and learned something interesting. Defensive behavior is the beginning stage of a loss of rationality. When you become beligerant and have to call me names, I'm going to assume that you are losing your grip on reality. I really don't know what else to think. If you are a person who feels free to call me on questions of health, because I am a nurse, and then resorts to name calling rather than an adult discussion .... don't bother calling.

I may not be the brightest diamond in the mine. I'm okay with that. I do own my thoughts, my ideals and my beliefs. If by professing my beliefs you think I am judging yours ... then you have a problem. I don't.

In the words of Thomas Jefferson, "I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend."