Time to Reflect: Step 47

In The Magician’s Nephew, C.S. Lewis wrote, “What you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what sort of person you are.” Living in Orange County, California provides a distinct vantage point from which to see and hear what is happening in the world. Most of my friends who either grew up here or have lived here long enough to become immersed in the general mindset consider accurate information to be derived the FOX news networks and from talk radio other than NPR and its affiliates. On the other hand, my daughters, especially the oldest, find it difficult to believe I would even listen or watch what they consider trash. As I told my eldest and as pointed out in Lewis’s quote, it depends on where you are standing. When I am working out on the elliptical my eyes fall on a television tuned to a channel set by a staff member of 24 Hour Fitness. Naturally, recognizing most of the members share the aforementioned OC mindset the channel happens to be FOX. Now, I could just look away or strain to see one of the sets showing infomercials, but as the second part of the quote states it also “depends on what sort of person you are.” My thirst for knowledge makes me want to know what someone else sees and hears even if it is completely the opposite of what I am comfortable with seeing and hearing. It is clear my inner self lost some control this week when I found myself laughing aloud at the interview of a congressman who was still talking about repealing the health care law. Even if he was able to sway a majority of his colleagues to rescind the law what are the odds he could find the two-thirds needed to override a presidential veto? All right, it shows poor judgment to laugh at a congressman, but it’s definitely what Kevin Beacon’s character Fenwick referred to as “a smile,” in the movie Diner. Getting back to the place where one stands I have to admit to wondering last summer whether Senator DeMint a man who follows closely in the footsteps of his predecessor, Strom Thurmond, was correct in seeing health care as a Waterloo for Obama. Maybe, where he was standing at the time colored his vision much like mine was this past fall. Our assembly district in Orange County held a special election. Thinking people may see things differently given the opportunity to elect someone with fresh ideas on how to govern our struggling state my time was spent trying to get voters to elect someone from a party that had not won in fifty years. Like the good senator from South Carolina and so many well-meaning meteorologists my prediction was wrong. One of the great lessons the senator and I can take from these miscalculations is not to deny who we are but just move over to gain a more accurate assessment of where people are standing. People wrote off the Republican Party after the Goldwater fiasco…in Step 35 readers will recall my admission of admiration for Barry. But, then the GOP resurrected Nixon and basked in the glory of the Reagan-Bush era. Similarly, people told me Apple was dead. Today they add the ipad to the ipod, itunes, imac and iphone. All right, so someone tell me how far does a person with my view have to move before it no longer looks like I’m standing in front of one of those funhouse mirrors. Comments, criticisms, and controversy welcome.