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A Heretic for Peace
Heretic is one of my top ten favorite words. When I was in seminary, several of my professors called me a heretic to my face. In the 1990’s! I was asking questions outside the quite tiny box of their dogma and it enraged them, but that’s another story.
Heretic is a variation on a Greek word which means able to choose. Able to choose. A heretic is someone who knows that choosing is the principle activity required of a human being. A heretic doesn’t take the conventional wisdom as truth. A heretic knows she has a choice. A heretic looks at theory, dogma, concept, idea, everything and asks about it. A heretic is more often than not thought of as an eccentric.
SIGN ME UP!
I believe that in order to create peace on earth, we’re going to need some heretics, a lot of heretics, really. In the June issue of Ode, Anita Roddick said, “This world really does need more of these wonderful heretics.” There were pictures of Jesus, the Dalai Lama, Joan of Arc, Nelson Mandela, and Gandhi, among others.
This newly-card-carrying heretic is accepting heretical suggestions for creating peace on earth. Go ahead, make a new choice.
Agreed. Guess I've been a heretic all my life. The accepted, expected thing, for little girls, in the place I grew up was that they would graduate high school, get engaged to the boy who took them to the prom and then build a hope chest with the money they made working at the local fast food joint or 'five and dime' while they waited for him to graduate from college.
Instead, I went to college and I didn't even take 'proper' ladies classes like home economics, nurcing, counciling, or education. I majored in broad field earth science. Worse, I came out with a B.S. instead of the expected Mrs. to a doctor.
Then I made it even worse by going into the Army instead of settleing down to what ever my relatives thought was proper.
I'm probably not even being a proper old lady, as I refuse to get the little old lady helmet hair cut, or, horrors! go to church every time the door's open.
I just walk my own path and try to be as nice to other's as I can, and help when and where I can.
That's all I think anyone can do.
posted by sulkahlee on 8/15/2007 2:29 pm