Social Change

People complain about our current local and global politics usually in the same way we air our social frustrations or grumble in traffic.  With little, if any, initial introspection, and enjoying the sounds of our own voices, there has been a trend-gone-rampant where we diagnose the ailments in others thinking and actions while staunchly defending our own.  This has to stop.  Divorce rates are higher than acceptable, as are numbers of abandoned children, and in the especially litigious state of California, it's relatively easy to get caught in the spider webs of perceived justice which, like most else in a capitalist society, are swooned much by power (money) and little by truth (love.)  We want to vent because it's familiar, don't want the headaches of self-assessment, because, unless superfluous, it's not cheery or flattering.  The end product, however, is meant to be. 
I have this friend who tends to put down others a lot when we're hanging out.  It gets really annoying!  "Look for the positives" I say, but the words have hardly left my lips before another bitter comment comes flying out about what is most ridiculous in him or her or them.  So I sit beneath the great whispering branches of our spot in Balboa Park and take a few moments to tune more into nature than whatever noise keeps erupting beside me haha.. I cannot condemn my friends tendency because it's one I've seen in myself enough to halt and revamp similar diatribes.  The things that bother us most about others are too often the very same things we detest recognizing in ourselves.  Think about the things that irk you most and start taking mental inventory.  I think you'll be surprised to find that, like most things, if we fix the core problem, the rest runs much more smoothly.  I detest being subjected to pedantic snobbery and excessive pride.  Hummm; I think I'd better go back and erase a sentence....