A Good Reason to be a Moderate
There have been times when I have been in discussion with people and be berated for trying to steer a middle course. The topic of discussion extended from theology, religion, philosophy, psychology, and even politics. I will hear phrases like “You know what you find in the middle of the road, don’t you? Dead skunks.” Or if that isn’t graphic enough, “It isn’t safe to straddle a fence, you know, especially if it is a barbed wire one.”
Unfortunately, what that has usually done for me is to lead me to avoid discussion on those issues with those people because they have made it clear that they won’t even begin to give my viewpoint (or any viewpoint other than their own) a hearing.
Which makes me sort of wish that I was from New York state and had Rep. Boehlert as my representative in the House. I would have been proud to vote for him. Yet, it is only as he retires that I hear about him. I found this reference to his retirement in The Moderate Voice.
“My manner of representation and voting record of more than two decades has earned for me the label of moderate.
I’m proud of the label, fervently believing that the overwhelming majority of thinking people reject the extremes of the left and right.”
(Read the rest of the report at The Moderate Voice – Rep. Boehlert to Retire)
The rest of the report talks about the importance in his mind (and I would wholeheartedly agree) for someone to not be lost in the extremes. I’m sorry to say that I think a large part of our overwhelming societal anxiety is fed by and even nurtured by the extremes. Yet, the extremes of any genre of thought (from theology, to psychology, to politics, etc) are stuck in a fused dance of opposites.
That doesn’t lend itself to independent thought or even creative ideas. We are fed a steady diet of the same old stories and arguments that have been around for a long time. I am glad to be a part of the center where we strive to hold to the idea of seeking creative solutions to problems and to find fresh approaches to the ever changing vagaries of life.
Sherwood Boehlert, I wish I had known you, but I am glad you have been there. Now I just hope others can come to be the bridges we need not just on the Hill, but in our council chambers and statehouses and coffeeshops and vestries.
