...here's what I think. Something I feel worth typing, sharing, and maybe stashing away some place to refer to later. I've been pondering, after hearing some friends talk about: life, why we are here. I had something I wanted to say, an opinion to share but did not. I was surprisingly quiet, able to keep my mouth shut, due to not wanting to pipe up and sound like 'another country heard from'.
A quote I read years ago in a book by Tony Hillerman, recently deceased, a very prolific fiction writer. Stories about a couple of men in law enforcement who were Navajos, living in the Four Corners of southwestern US. I'm sure I don't have it perfectly memorized, as I have not thought of it in some time: "If you think things happen at random, you are looking at life from the wrong perspective".
I believe this is what Hillerman was trying to help us see: don't be judgemental until you have the facts. One of Hillerman's characters was an older man, with many years of experience at studying human nature, understanding if you are willing to take the time to see things from another person's point of view, you will understand their motives. Make an effort to be aware of the things that go on in their minds that cause them to do things you would not expect them to do under different circumstances. People can be burdened with guilt, or carry a torch for a lost love, feel a desperate need for revenge that will make them do crazy things.
And this is what it says to me: we cannot know God. We do not have the wisdom, ability to understand. We don't have footing to step back far enough from our lives to truly see the Big Picture. I think we should mostly be thankful we do not control the universe: look what a steaming hot mess we have made right here on this little planet.
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