SEEK TO UNDERSTAND

Seek To Understand

By Cate Arnold (c) 2016

While I was quietly re-elected to City Council in November, 2016, the angst over the presidential race was loud, angry and full of accusations. The attacks on conservatives versus liberals, Republicans versus Democrats, government employees, and so many “others” continue to rage.

My mother taught me the importance of the words: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” She taught me the importance of caring for family and community. She was impeccable – not perfect, but someone who desired health and happiness not only for my siblings and our own families and friends, but for our fellow human beings.

Seek to understand: can we gather accurate information about what’s happening in the moment? For instance, I was talking to a gentleman who said that we can’t fix our roads because politicians are wasting our money. I explained that over the years, we’ve had serious structural changes: a huge decrease in the federal funds available to build new roads, massive expenses for maintenance of the roads we’ve already built, and static fuel tax rates while construction costs rise every year, including some years of double-digit inflation for inputs like asphalt and land costs. Replacing politicians doesn’t change these conditions.

We must have the patience and wisdom to understand the lands that we live in. Only accurate physical accounting gives us what we need to find solutions. Only by understanding our structures can we devise solutions and find better ways towards a better world for those coming behind us.

I hope to start a new movement, the Impeccable Moms’ Movement. What would an Impeccable Mom do? Get to know the people and lands we live in, understand and work with others in spite of our faults, spend our hours caring for our communities rather than attacking others, expect accurate and honest information about what we face; and face our problems head on together with integrity, respect, kindness, and hope.

Cate Arnold is one of those people you want to talk to.  She has her own story and is willing to share it, but she loves hearing other people’s stories.  She is bright, educated, and down-to-earth. To see what she thinks is most important for Beaverton, OR, look at 3 Essentials on www.cate4beaverton.com. To contact her, send your phone number to cate4beaverton@gmail.com

 

  

HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU!

 

My wife and I recently went through the same medical procedure; cataract surgery.  Because I'm a gentleman, I let her go first (she claims I had another reason for doing so).  The surgery wasn't so bad.  The tricky part was remembering to put in the eyedrops 4, 3, 2, times a day that differed for each eye.

They took the patch off the next day.  It is amazing how bright the lights and colors are now.  When I compared them to the untreated eye, they were yellowish in one eye and brilliant in the other.  I looked in the mirror and realized, "I don't have renal failure after all!"

Many things in life can color our vision of the world around us.  We may see others through the lens of opinions or prejudices.  The problem is that we think we are seeing things clearly because the lens has been tainted for so long.  Don't let anyone tell you they see clearly on every issue.  While you are at it, don't claim the same pronouncement.

There is only one person who walked this earth who didn't need his lens cleaned...Jesus Christ.  If he saw something and made a claim about it, it was clear and true.  He hung around some sketchy figures.  He didn't see them as sketchy, but people with needs.  He saw what they could become. I wish I had those kinds of lenses!

I read about a man who wanted to see others as Jesus did, so he took a grease pencil and put a cross on each lens of his glasses.  He then stated, "I now see the world through the cross of Jesus." 

We will always have some discoloration as we look at others and the world, but if we allow Christ to help us see more clearly, it can make a difference.  That's the kind of “different" we all can use.

Here's looking at you!