December 16, 2014, Prescott- Today was a whirlwind, even though there is no work this week, due to the approaching holidays.  Synchronicity, which is a fact of life for most of us, had me at a Slow Food gathering, which I had to leave early, so as to get back home for an online meeting.  Before that, there was laundry to get done, family cards to write out and send, and a bit of shopping to get ingredients for my cookie-baking exercise, tomorrow morning.

How men and women treat one another is much on my mind.  I have known women who were abused by men, men who were abused by women, and those who trade abuse back and forth, like a flaming potato.  The old saw about hurting people who hurt people keeps singing my heart.

Penny and I had differences of opinion, misunderstandings and “cool-down” periods, throughout our 29 years together.  We never, once, struck one another, never spent a day apart, and never slept separately out of hurt or anger.  I guess the whole idea was that nothing individual was more important than the unit that was our pairing, and then the family that started with the conception of our son, in October, 1987, cemented by his birth nine months later.

When there are disagreements between my friends, be they online or real time, I hold back from choosing sides.  I do not, once, favour a person who chooses violence as a way to solve a dispute.  I can’t go along with subterfuge, either.  All parties involved are still in the world, and both have growing to do, as I did when I was a young husband, as my wife did- and all four of our parents, before us.  I will support each friend separately, and all of them collectively- if they work towards resolution.  Sticks and bricks hurt, when they are thrown, rather than used to build structures.