Both/And

I’m always looking for the larger story behind the smaller ones, the often unseen and unspoken energies that inform how we think and act. In these various posts about Christmas Carols and adults and children and such, what I seem to be calling for is peeling ourselves off the opposing horns of either this or that and learn how to sit astride the whole animal. 

 

So instead of mindlessly singing only Christmas songs or equally mindlessly banning all Holiday songs in school gatherings comes the third choice—not either/or, but both/and. Instead of only childish whiny tantrum-throwing children or serious unplayful uptight adults, instead of stressed adult-too-soon children worshipping Taylor Swift in 1^st grade and childish whiny tantrum-throwing adults in the halls of power, we might consider the both/and of the old soul in the playful child and the childlike delight in the mature adult. 

 

Either/or gives the illusion that we have to make a choice and often the choice is made for us by our failure to question and simply accept what the priests or politicians or media moguls throw our way. Both/and requires that we walk both in our moccasins and those of the other to consider a wider perspective, to understand when and why and how much one pair might fit the situation better than the other, but always have both on hand. 

 

All of this prelude to one of my favorite articles, one I believe I’ve re-posted almost every year—Wrong Words Day. It shows yet again a third alternative to simply right and wrong, nice and naughty, and helps create a culture wrapped around the way we actually are put together. It shows children the beauty of the right and the fun of the purposeful (and artistic) wrong and how there’s room for both, inside of ourselves and in the culture.

 

Stay tuned!