I try to live by the golden rule because it’s a simple philosophy and it leaves out the trappings of big religion.
That being the case, in this fledgling blog, I want to avoid where I’ve gone so frequently on Facebook since 2016.
I don’t want to rail against the latest insults to humanity, intelligence and the future of the planet foisted upon us by the pathological narcissist/liar who, thanks to our Electoral College and Russian interference, leads our nation despite earning 4 million fewer votes than his opponent. Nor do I desire to castrate (figuratively) the elected or appointed minion/sycophants who assist the would-be king in those endeavors.
Sorry to say I’ve probably just established a narrative: another bleeding heart lefty.
Actually, I prefer to think of my philosophy as a golden rule-influenced narrative based on fact and logic, and influenced by growing up in a lower middle-class household with parents dedicated to the principles of hard work, compassion for others and commitment to lifelong learning.
But I’ll accept bleeding heart lefty if that makes you happy.
What I really want to say is how life tends to follow figurative narratives, but mine has come to include literal. As a journalist, I fell in love with a storytelling style. I studied narrative writing and through many mentors (I’m talking about you, Bruce DeSilva, and you, rest in peace, Osborn Elliott) and a lot of bumps, have deployed it myself and hopefully instilled a good sense of it in journalists and writers I’ve coached over the years (I’m talking about you, Matt Ham, and you, Arminda Lindsay).
Coincidentally (except I don’t believe in coincidences and, as promised in my first blog, that’s a topic for a different blog and will be soon. Along with blogs on run-on sentences and digressing.), what I hope to be the final part of my working life will also revolve around narrative.
In this case, the last part will be as a clinical mental health counselor, I’ve found myself, no surprise, drawn to a theoretical orientation known as narrative therapy. Through this, counselors help clients identify and name the dominant (problem-saturated) stories in their lives. And then collaboratively work on finding alternative stories.
With all my heart, I hope that our nation’s alternative narrative will be finding ways to talk through partisanship to find compromise on the problem-saturated stories currently defining our national discourse.
Now that’s a narrative I’d yield bleeding heart lefty for.
Les
lesgura.com 