Comments on: I Confess I Live a Life of Contradictions

By: How to Live More Simply, and Why It Is So Important | Frugal Dad

How to Live More Simply, and Why It Is So Important | Frugal Dad — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:00:52 +0000

[...] that Jaguar in the driveway and the “his and hers” Rolex in your sock drawer that are contradicting your new way of life? Get rid of them. I don’t care how you do it. Sell them, give them away as gifts, or [...]

By: learning the ropes

learning the ropes — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:51:23 +0000

One big conflict I always seem to get into is:

Eco-friendly or convenient. And I feel guilty if I choose the latter over the former.

By: Sara at On Simplicity

Sara at On Simplicity — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 16:29:34 +0000

I’m in agreement that contradiction is not a bad thing. One the best things I ever did for my mind was to marry someone with opposing political beliefs. Whenever we talk, I find that things aren’t as black and white as I wish they were. While it can be frustrating (to both of us), we’re both a lot more knowledgeable and passionate because we’re willing to venture into the gray.

By: SaTiSh MeDoS

SaTiSh MeDoS — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:36:51 +0000

most of the things you said were reasonable and “charity versus my belief everyone should work” is the one i can relate to my view of why people beg even after having no abnormalities….. a Good blog i must say…

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:08:27 +0000

@fathersez – Contradictions certainly seem to be a part of our lives that we cannot avoid.

@Babysitter – Thanks for writing great stuff for me to link to!

Thanks for your comments and keep them coming!

By: The Babysitter

The Babysitter — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:52:26 +0000

Thanx for linking to my blog.

By: fathersez

fathersez — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:36:50 +0000

You are right about this, Jeff. Most of us sensible people have to live with these contradictions. (Other contradictions may be religion etc.)

You have made a great point about putting ourselves in the other guy’s shoes.

The difficulty is in the balance.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:00:24 +0000

@plonkee – It is interesting to me that most of these have been worked out in the UK. I know that you have much tighter gun control. I’d be curious to know how you’ve worked out the freedom of speech issues.

@Journeyer – I believe we make up the views that are our modern society. The difficulty is deciding how we feel about these issues and how to deal with the gray areas. Again, I think accepting that these issues are difficult is a great starting point.

Thanks for the thoughtful input!

By: Journeyer

Journeyer — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:25:38 +0000

I struggle with many of the contradictions that you’ve mentioned here. Another one I have is caring for my family vs doing things for myself.

It is difficult to resolve opinions or actions that on the one hand go against your beliefs, but on the other are simply part of modern society. In embracing society as it is, I sometimes feel that I’m not being genuine.

However, as you say, it is never black and white and we can all learn by trying to understand opposing points of view.

By: plonkee

plonkee — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:25:46 +0000

Your contradictions are deeply American, over here in the UK several of them have been resolved more or less one way.

I think freedom of speech and protection of privacy has inherent contradictions, but if you don’t like what’s on tv, you don’t have to let you or your children watch it. But otherwise, in the olden days there were different contradiction which have since been resolved and I think many of the ones that you’ve cited will go the same way.

Being able to look at both sides of an issue and see the merits of the opposing arguments is something that you should be doing as a grown up. There are always mitigating circumstances, and things are never straight-forward.