I've made no secret that I have an amount of disdain when it comes to controversial topics and "A Penny's Worth of Thoughts", not because I don't have a personal stance on them, in most cases I do. It's more that the idea, the general premise, the core of why I started Penny's Worth was to broaden perspectives in the hopes of bringing an understanding, rather than narrowing them in on an objective. My personal beliefs should be just that, my own personally, not something to influence the perspectives of others into, mainly because I feel that even if I could, their view of it and my view would still differ. My experiences, my thoughts, however vague at times, are not likely to match exactly with someone else's.
But, part of bringing an understanding to others is to create a system of conversation, and as I think more on things of that nature, we could certainly use more of those systems. The part my own thought stream has been following as of late is on the how. Is it even possible, when even just the mention of a controversy can polarize people's minds and perspectives on opposite sides of an argument that hasn't even started yet?
It seems silly at times, how just the word controversy can create one. But, in a sense, that's what it's designed to do: create conflict. It's even a writing mechanic, a way to introduce or develop the conflict of a story. Does it work? I could point to Harry Potter's "boy who lived" as an example. It doesn't seem like it, but it works out much like a controversy, polarizing viewpoints within the story based on their perspective of what they believe actually happened. And what is a controversy but just that?
We fall easily into the trap, too. Even more so now that before, in some cases. Perhaps from latent fight or flight instincts, except that over time, either we've used the flight so much that it's lost our value to us or we just hit a point where we actively decided that flight is no longer worth it. There's an adage, from a book or a movie that, for the life of me, the title has slipped my mind, which goes "A soldier prays for peace but prepares for war." Looking around any source of outlets these days, it seems like people forget the praying for peace, almost seeming as if they are praying the opposite.
It actually reminds me of one of my High School English papers, of which the general gist is that sometimes what is peaceful to one person can seem chaotic to another, and what could often be the key to that one's peace is a certain level of control over the chaos. Seems contradictory, doesn't it? But, perhaps, useful today. An old perspective within a sea of chaos, somehow finding peace.
It could be my thoughts are just trying to remind me of that place, perhaps in preparation of what's to come as I open my thoughts to the controversial for the first time in a long time as I place that small hint of control: broad, not specific. And though I highly doubt, even now, that I would touch some topics still, others seem just possible. This is the perspective I'd wish to share, the calm of the storm. A sense of peace and understanding within the chaos. The trick of it is, even if I tried, I could not lead you to it. It comes from a place that each person must find of their own, typically as unique as they are. A place referred to as a "Walden" as I recall.
As for mine? Well, let's just say that any of my classmates who read this will know what I mean when I say that this Penny's Worth still has my usual gaming reference within it. You just have to know where to look.
Just a penny's worth of thoughts, for anyone willing to read them.
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