Wade Poe

Some years back South Park had a couple episodes where a set of characters showed up and changed everything.  They were called "member berries" and when eaten, the childlike berries made you reminisce constantly about the past, how wonderful it was, and great it would be to "get back there" - or something like that. Member Chewbacca? Member Ghostbusters? Member feeling safe?  Etc. They represented the hopeful times of parts of the past and, at the same time, sour grapes over the fact those times were gone and that they also were mixed with less than great and hopeful things. It was pretty funny and kind of made a good point about how fond memories for good times in the past can lock us into a way of being that glorifies the past and keeps us from engaging the reality around us now with hope and relevance - especially for those who weren't part of the past we enjoyed. Though it's changing a little, there's still a staunch collective in my tribe of origin ...

"Have you quit beating your wife?" Back in the 80's when learning logic, dialogue, debate, etc, we discussed how you have to unpack the question itself before you answer it or you're at the mercy of the person asking the question. The above question was one of the sample questions we unpacked because it had so many assumptions built it.  For example, it assumes 1) the person is married, 2) the person they're married to is a woman and 3) that they have been beating their wife. A person answering that question would need to confront and counter the misleading options or statements in the question, otherwise they're walking into a verbal trap. _______________ "If you don't go to church, how will you be spiritually fed?" One of the common things I hear from people on this journey over the past several months is that question.   It's not a bad question, but it assumes a lot of things.  Like the question at the top of the post, it's one of thos...