Culture
Blank Canvas
By: Brian Holdsworth
As someone who waited to have sex before I was married, I had a lot of people tell me how doomed my marriage was going to be as a result. They would point out that I wouldn’t know how to keep my wife happy in the boudoir and that I would need to make sure that we were compatible before getting married. I guess the logic is sorta like with a car. You wouldn’t buy a car until you take it out for a spin first right? Well, maybe, except I don’t like to think of my wife as a car, but as a person. And furthermore, notice how self centered that thinking is. It's like saying," I have to put her to the test to make sure she's good enough for me". A marriage is about letting go of your selfish tendencies, but if your thinking is in that frame of mind going in, I can expect that you’re going to have some problems.
Mislabeled
By: Brian Holdsworth
Consider a woman who has just made a significant mistake at work. That mistake has now cost the company she works for and the manager is trying to figure out what the source of the mistake was. When he asks the woman who is responsible, she is confronted with a desire to lie in the hopes that she won’t be punished for her mistake. In spite of that desire, she decides to tell the truth and face whatever consequences are due to her. Now, the question I want to invite you to consider is this: should she be considered a liar because she had a natural desire to lie but chose not to? In other words, are our categories (in this case liars) based on our emotional desires or on our actual choices and subsequent actions?
Defeats the Purpose
By: Brian Holdsworth
What's the purpose of the door then?
Have you ever been in a situation where you were contemplating the practicality of something and the notion was eventually defeated by the realization that the particular something in question would become absurd in its use? You may have even heard yourself say, "It would defeat the purpose". That's a pretty common expression. This is often the case when we're making a choice about something. For example, if you were looking to buy a computer and you only needed it for home use in your office. Considering the type of use you're going to get out of it, you wouldn't take much time to consider a laptop for your new purchase. Obviously that type of use of the laptop would defeat the purpose of owning one. It simply wouldn't make any sense to buy one in this case and would be a waste of resources. Or how about buying a new car? If you are a young single person and only needed it to get yourself around town, you wouldn't consider buying a minivan because that would defeat the purpose. Again it wouldn't make any sense.
Messy Conversations: Human Rights
By Brian Holdsworth
The following is part of a series we're calling messy conversations. They're messy because they're topics that people don't want to talk about and are incredibly emotionally charged and divisive. It's unfortunate that dialogue on these issues is so difficult and as long as it is, the divisions will only increase. Our hope is to create an opportunity for authentic sharing of ideas without fear of reprisal. This conversation is based on actual conversation(s).
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