Blind Spots and Smudge Marks

Image by jovino via Flickr

We self-reflect by looking out the windows to see the world around us and into the mirrors, real or metaphorical, to see ourselves. And that's good. But not perfect.
Nothing is harder for us to see than our own immaturities. They are the blind spots in those mirrors and the hazy film on those windows. We see clearly through them or around them when looking at others, but not so much when the view involves our self.
As long as we are growing, we will always have these blind spots and smudge marks. But we see them and understand them only in retrospect -- in the light of context and perspective that comes from maturing beyond them. And the main thing that can stunt our growth is thinking that somehow see everything just as it is.

Writing History

Image via Wikipedia

There's nothing like reading a good book on history to make me wonder about the history my generation is writing. I just finished Blood and Thunder, a wonderful book about Kit Carson and the Indian wars of the 1800s. It's easy to second guess the decisions of presidents and generals and trappers and indian chiefs and other assorted characters. But they lived very real lives -- the kind that lead to great things, if sometimes only accidentally, and the kind that lead to great horrors, despite the best of intentions. It's insane to think we would have acted differently had we been in the place of those who came before us. We simply don't know. And when it comes down to it, we're better served figuring out how we should live our own lives than pretending we would have been more noble than our forefathers. Is abortion our slavery? Is global warming our manifest destiny? What will our grand-children's grand-children think when they read about us?