Acceptable (358)

Acceptable, another word used frequently. But to me this has more quantifiable evidence supporting whether something is considered acceptable or not. Like a 70 is acceptable as a passing grade. 2 days is an acceptable arrival time for a package from Amazon. I suppose it is of course based on a standard not always fixed. But it does tend to have a bar- a level- a number or range.

I find a lot of behavior unacceptable, yet I tend to keep it to myself. As I do not want to appear unacceptable myself. I just tend to steer clear of it. I find words and actions, of those who are unwilling to listen to alternate points of view, unacceptable. It doesn't take anything but strength, grace and humility to listen to someone else. Their ideas might offend, but maybe if we listened a little bit more, we could bridge the divide between the corners.

The corners we are backing ourselves into by standing behind such a firm line in the sand. A line our sticks drew as we gathered the stones and branches to defend our ideals. There is so much room for acceptable behavior. For acceptable speech. For acceptable action - we need action to be based on benevolence. Not misunderstanding and blind faith.

These days in the tumultuous times we live in- it is even more important to be acceptable. Accept others opinions as their own- rather than dismissing them, because they are different- from our own. Being acceptable means being open-minded, being generous and patient. It takes time for alignment to take place. For a middle ground to be forged. Recently there has been little hope for the conjunction of compromise.

But being reasonable and acceptable is on the approach. People are still rude and self-centered. Many are following a misplaced ideal of one is better and thus one is all that matters. There are many acceptable voices, reasonable voices- and together reasonable and acceptable means crossing the border towards a center- a commonality, an alignment. I for one find this reasonable and acceptable.