As I awoke this morning I soon realized that something was different.  Unlike yesterday my mind was filled with opinions.

I have been putting my opinions out for public consumption for a long time.  It started way before this blog and in fact it started long before there were blogs.  In fact it started long before the internet began.  I have been writing for just as long as I have been making pictures. It’s a bit harder for me these days as some physical issues make it difficult to manipulate the keyboard with my fingers and to actually see what I have typed.  That’s not whining it is just to let you know why at times the typos are plentiful and the wording may be suspect.

I enjoy a rousing discourse over almost any subject that I have knowledge of.  I never expect everyone to agree with me and in fact if everyone does, it is boring.  My main purpose is always to get others to think in a bigger variety of ways about what they already know.  Commentators that do that for me are the ones I appreciate.  Most issues are gray, not black & white.  I have been both criticised and physically threatened in my life for what I have spoken or written and neither would ever stop me from exercising my freedom to speak.  I also expect others to exercise that same right, even if I disagree.  While we in America consistently invent rights for ourselves, I think the Constitution is plain enough on this issue so that most would agree that we do have a right to free speech.

The good thing about this era of instant information is that everyone can have a say.  The bad part is that everyone can have a say.   Free speech does give the writer the permission to lie or to be a demigod, but that is a part of the deal.   The great news is that  blogs like this are free and available to anyone with some sort of internet access, which it would seem logical, that everyone reading this already has.   I started this blog just to share a few pictures and a few words for a short period of time and it is inevitable for me that  my opinion eventually would creep into some articles.  I welcome comments including any non-vulgar criticism of myself. 

I generally have a specific opinion on any political argument.   Some time ago I decided that my adding that specific opinion to the millions that are already out there was pointless.  We live in a world with very few true leaders and many followers.  Just joining the chorus from either side to add my clone like comments seemed to serve no purpose.  Instead I began to look at both sides and to see if there was any true (in my opinion) independent thought being shared by either side.  I aimed to look at whether most opinions that I viewed carried a genuine heart-felt (and brain registered) belief, or  was it really all about supporting whichever side you generally choose, and thumping the other side.  In other words let my team win.  No right or wrong.  No asking can it work or will it not.  Even those who make their choices based on selfish reasoning such as what is in it for me, or what price will I pay, are definitely admired by me more than I would ever admire the clones.   The issues of today are crucial to this great country’s ability remain great.  It is not about picking sides, it is about doing the right thing.  It always helps me to hold in disbelief almost everything either side puts out for public consumption via the media.   Do you decide to believe all of the TV ads on your side and hold the enemy  up as a liar?  There is nothing like a closed (and sometimes foolish) mind to see to it that the issue will meet an impasse.

The freedom to participate in Democracy ( a Representative Republic ) is indeed a gift.  Debate among Americans is not only tolerable but healthy and necessary.  We have elections to help decide these debates,  and that is in fact Democracy.  In recent years, it has often ceased to be a debate.  Anytime anyone  from either party gets elected, you can be sure that the political enemies of that party (who claim to practice Democracy) will surely scream for a re-call of that candidate for having the audacity to take a position other than ours.  Those positions are of course exactly the ones that they would likely hold because they are indeed from the other party.  Only the candidates of the party we support can ever be elected or we will kick and scream and cry foul.  This is absolutely true of both sides.  One side loves to shout Hitler, and the other favors Communist.  Hypocrisy runs rampant in American politics.  Sometimes the more different we are, the more we are the same.

There is one thing that I do know from past opinion pieces.  When I criticise the actions of both the left and the right,  you will both be displeased with what I have written.  I understand that. 

I am always amazed at how often these strong allegiances to one party are held merely because of where someone grew up, or how their parents think or thought.  I have changed my political stance many times in the my life.  My parents much like yours never coerced me to think like them.   I loved and respected them dearly and the most important thing that they taught me was to think for myself and follow those thoughts down the road.   Like most parents they never once suggested I spend the rest of my life supporting their politics.  They both recognized that the world (and politics) would change, and that I needed to be my own person.

I have tried during this post to keep my sarcasm (for me) to a minimum, as I know it is often not appreciated.  It is also a difficult art form to practice with the written rather than the spoken word.  This blog will not turn into a political forum.  Nature photography will remain its purpose.

There is an issue that I do need to address.  My opinions come from observations.  Among people who I know and don’t know.  From people on the street, on the internet, on television and on the radio.  I am not writing specifically about you.  Whoever you may be.  If I ever do write specifically about you I will name you, or you will know for sure by what I write.  A recent example would be the post I wrote about my dog Tuxedo.  It was inspired by a another post by a friend who had just lost her cat.  I used the cat’s name and it was of course obvious to her what I meant.

It is indeed cathartic to write a blog.  Whether I write about my love of nature photography or I pontificate about the current state of politics in America, it is always good not to fear the act of sharing a genuine opinion.  I would love to see each of you do the same and you are warmly welcome to comment at the bottom of this page.

If we treat freedom of speech like the gift that it is we will use it responsibly.