Is There Any High Ground?

 

I ask myself regularly, it seems, is there really any high ground to take these days?  I climb up on my lofty perch, confident in my belief in a certain rightness of thought. Then, the winds and waves of doubt blast away at my position and I begin to feel very alone there, often feeling that I'm on shaky ground.

The input, the data that we receive in our present times is more than just a bit overwhelming.  The media, like a big powerful new washing machine has our massive amounts of information on a constant spin and twist cycle.  Society, which includes our friends and people that we respect, look to for some type of guidance are very influenced by this glut of opinionated and biased presentation of the everyday events in our world...we are all influenced by it.

So where do we find a firm place to stand? I believe that it comes down to character. Einstein said, "Weakness of attitude leads to weakness of character."  If we let the current accepted trend of right and wrong cause us to doubt truths that we hold in our heart, we're stumbling. Though I believe we can't close our minds to a changing world with situations that we've never had to consider before, I feel we need to stand on our convictions.

I've never considered myself to be the most intelligent or the most righteous of humans. I certainly make mistakes and am often just plain wrong. The most difficult time to hold on to my small position is when I'm surrounded with people who tell me that I'm being unreasonable and inflexible. Like most folks, I want to be liked and respected by my friends and family. When I seem to be standing nearly alone, I have to sincerely question my rightness. This is where what is called "strength of character" truly matters.

 A large portion of our character was formed when we were just children, whether from a strong family, from school, from church or people we looked up to.  As we age and go through life, we apply the values we adopted when growing up and we add our own pieces of  things we decide to be right.  This is our character, it very much governs how we lead our lives. I do believe that the fabric of our character must be consistent and strong.  Like a heavy old wool coat, it should hang straight and not be twisted or altered. It should have threads of forgiveness and humility, it should have pockets to add new things. We should be able to wear the coat with pride but never with arrogance.

The world is complicated and we make choices and decisions, we make judgments each and every day. Our character should not be influenced by others version or lack of it. It should be the safe ground we seek when the earth sways beneath us.