Monday, June 23, 2025

Street Sweeping Seaweed

Some will object to many of the questions posed, because they think their own character defects have not been so glaring.  To these it can be suggested that a conscientious examination is likely to reveal the very defects the objectionable questions are concerned with.

I did not/do not/will not ever enjoy taking a good, long, honest look at my own behavior and my own motivations because I'm afraid of what I might find there. Nobody likes to admit their faults. No alcoholic, especially. We've behaved badly much of the time and have found it easier to just pretend we haven't. And when I find another person to be foul and distasteful one of these close examinations inevitably shows me that I possess some of the selfsame defects that are so revolting when I perceive them elsewhere.

We are there to sweep off our side of the street realizing that nothing worthwhile can be accomplished until we do so, never trying to tell him what he should do.  His faults are not discussed.  We stick to our own.  We have made our demonstration, done our part.

It's SO much easier to blame someone else and it's so SO much easier to dig at the weak spots in their character and behavior. I can spot a fault in another person at a thousand yards, at night, in a driving snowstorm, with my eyes closed, more easily than I can perceive them in myself. We're taught to admit where we're wrong, apologize for the slight or insult, and then to start behaving better. Saying I'm sorry is a poor beginning if I continue to act like a dick. "His faults are not discussed." Try to wiggle out of that one with some clever rhetoric. "We stick to our own." There is no nuance there. We look at ourselves and leave the other person clean out of it.





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