I love the messages I receive from blog readers. I especially love the ones that get me thinking, even when they are about disagreement.
Today, I got a message from Paul in response to one of my political essays. I thought his message was important, not only because it was so honest and civil, but because it is something I want to write about, and I also do something about it.
Paul served in the military for 22 years, and I greatly respect that. As the offspring of immigrants, I was often told that the only reason me and my family were alive was because American soldiers gave their lives for us to be free.
That stuck with me; I trust military people and am grateful for their service.
Paul was writing to courteously wonder why I was allowing my political beliefs to interfere with my blog, which he described as a deliberate safe place and “ray of sunshine.”
In our country at our time, it is a blessing for someone to object in such a graceful and decent way. One other person wrote to say she was quitting the blog because of “your ranting” about politics.
She was not nearly as respectful as Paul.
“Hello Jon,” he wrote. “I have been a devout follower of your blog since the beginning. I have enjoyed your sharing your life and openness. Thank you for the ray of sunshine. What I find difficult to understand is why you’re allowing political beliefs to interfere with such a beautiful purpose in life. In 2016, a wise man told us not to worry. In 2014, I was worried about the future of our country, and I proudly served in uniform for 22 years. Peace.”
Thanks for the letter, Paul, and peace to you, too. I am grateful to any person who served our country for 22 years. My grandmother was right. People like you make it possible for people like me to share my life openly in America, including my beliefs.
I wrote back to Paul, thanking him for serving the country. “I imagine you will understand why I exercise my right to free speech. Living on a beautiful farm does not take away those rights or cause me to hide them. Openness is openness; I can’t only write to make everyone comfortable all of the time.”
I want the blog to be peaceful but not a hiding place.
Politics will never be a focal point of the blog, but I’m not going to pretend I live in a Disney Exhibit; I live in the real world just like you do. To me, being an American means you can disagree with people without being punished or persecuted. I can’t think of anything more patriotic than tolerating different opinions. That, to me, is where the country is in trouble.
We are losing the idea of tolerating differences.
You are one of those people who safeguarded my rights – and I believe people like you always will – and I don’t believe they should be repaid by my refusing to exercise them. So many soldiers have died for me and people like me that I will always fight for the freedom they gave me.
My blog is a safe place. There is little or no bad news, and I don’t publish cruel and angry arguments. The blog is free, and I work hard daily on my farm photos and flower pictures to keep it free of trolls and ideologues. I don’t allow political parties or people to post or troll here.
I was a political writer and can help people keep some perspective during a chaotic and sometimes frightening time. Flowers and animal photos can only do so much.
I love my country, too, and I believe I also serve it in many ways, even though I am not as brave as you. I serve my country by speaking openly and honestly about my life and not hiding from the realities of the world beyond the farm. That would be dishonest and false.
I’ve got to be me.
I wrote in 2016 that we needn’t worry about our country’s survival. I still feel that way. Armageddon is not here, and many readers tell me my writing helps them be calmer and more grounded. I can’t please everybody, but I would like to please you, as I loved the courtesy, thoughtfulness, and tone in your message.
I hope you stick around, read what you want, and skip over the rest. I will provide plenty of beauty and warmth. You sound like a very authentic man, and I like the same for myself. The blog remains a safe place. No one is getting attacked here, and I no longer post or respond to those messages.
I, too, care about and worry about my country. And I also feel committed to what you called “the beautiful purpose in life.” We have different ideas about what that means and how it is done.
I don’t work as an ostrich, hiding my beliefs in the dirt. As you are authentic, so do I want to be.
My blog is the story of my life, and how I feel about some things is at the heart of it.
To hide those feelings or only post cute and beautiful photos of sunrises and animals would make me dishonest and cowardly, at least in my mind. That’s not what all those good men and women died for.
I hope you can understand.
But I’ll never stop being me.
Thank you, Jon. Wishing you a blessed day
Keep with your “Common Sense” posts, Jon. I appreciate your perspective and it does provide balance to all the hysteria. To not share your perspectives would be a great loss. They are in the vein of E.B. White’s ” On Democracy.” He took some heat too, for what he wrote. Thanks, Jon!
Jon, as I have commented here before, I very much apprecaite your comments given your background history of reporting. I feel you are unbiased in what you say but you adress what many of us are so fearful of, the horrible criticims that have been going on for many years with a certain person who to me, and thankfully to you, feels unreliable to lead the United states as President. You present your views in such as way as to not alarm people but to present them in a more truthful way. I really appreciate reading your political and media comments which I find scary now. Daily Mail is one example of such negative reporting. Please continue your reporting. I respect what you ahve to say and yes, this gentleman was very respectful in his inquiry.
Sandy Proudfoot, Canada
Hello again Jon. Your reply to my inquiry was well taken and yes I do understand. I would never want you to not be yourself and no I will not run from your blog. I admit I have and probably will again take an occasional hiatus from your blog, but it always calls me back again. It’s kind of like coming home on military leave to a quiet place, a peaceful place. A place where one can unwind and experience daily life of decent unselfish people. I thank you and Maria for sharing your lives and for all the good you do, not only in your community, but for the positive impact you have and the stability you bring to so many people’s lives. HAPPY PEACE DAY.
Thanks, Paul; I appreciate your message and will take it to heart. You have my word that the blog will always be a peaceful and quiet place and hopefully a beautiful one, no matter what happens in the election. I value the meaning of a quiet and restful place for people to go; that’s where the blog is moving steadily. But lots of people come in and out, of course, and more than ever, come regularly. The blog is the right place for me; my photos of the morning light are new, as are my flower photos. That’s the direction I am going in, and the response has been affirming. But politics will never be the point; it’s just something I can offer once in a while. I appreciate your voice, decency, and words. I hope to hear from you often and again, on the blog posts or via e-mail, [email protected]. You strike me as a very good man, well worth knowing. This exchange is just how the internet was meant to be – a new way to communicate, a free space with people showing respect for one another, even when disagreeing. Thanks for that.
One more thing, Paul, as you may remember, is that I’ve sadly come to feel that the media I loved and worked in has failed to guide people through this race in a meaningful way. They share one hysteria after another and seem committed to drama and ugliness. I do feel I can help some people get a better grip on things, mostly because I left the corporate media to blog and think for myself. People are just not getting the thinking and perspective journalists once offered. This race is a woman’s movement from beginning to end. At the core, it is about the long struggle between men who wish to dominate women and women who seem determined to be free. That’s the story I choose to write about, right or wrong. Can you imagine a man dying because he couldn’t get medical care in a hospital when he is dying? I can’t. I can’t just be silent about that; I also wish to be restrained. It’s tricky.
Paul, I too, have been reading Jon’s blog for a very long time. As you know, it has changed and evolved as he has. I love all the new flower photos as I love flowers. Oddly, I have never been very interested in dogs or animals so I tend to skim over those posts and read the rest. I appreciate the political perspectives because I am really terrified that Trump might win again. Hoping hard that logic will prevail, and Harris will be elected. I, too, thank you for your service to our country and to all of us who live here. Why not just skip over the post that are political, you can tell by the subject heading. Then they won’t bother you and you won’t miss the many posts that you will enjoy. Peace to you and to all of us.
I think you’re right on target with your take on old school media. I’m in the same generation as you (and DJT, for that matter) but for some reason I never engaged with “the media’ even back in the day. From what I do see, which is mostly headlines of stories I don’t read, it seems to me that DJT has come up with the perfect schtick for “playing” what reporting has become. All he has to do is spout something newly outrageous, and that becomes the subject. I don’t think me means most of it, any more than any salesperson in his tradition means most of the things they say (I’m not talking about ALL salespeople here). I think the point is to get headlines. The job of reporting was, I think, once different, and usually more about the whole story than the sensational headline. But it’s not that way any more. I also think that around 2016, “the media” was almost, but not quite, finished morphing into what it has become. And that’s why his approach worked. Once. It can still LOOK LIKE it’s working, because he can still generate headlines. What’s different is that those headlines no longer matter as much. Everybody polling, watching polls, monitoring headlines, and the like is seeing things that aren’t real. My prediction is a massive landslide victory for Harris and Walz, followed by big, more fundamental (and more obvious) changes in what we think of as “the news.” We’ll see.
This is the way all *discussions* should be…..civil and courteous! Paul is obviously not only a courageous) man, but a very thoughtful one. …I am much pondering what he said….(the one sentence you posted) that you might be allowing your political beliefs to interfere with your blog. I have never felt they interfered…but merely were another facet of *you*……a flip side, as it were, to your photography and sharing of the other portions of your life and thoughts!
I only wish all blogs were the safe space that yours is now…… that is why I only have 2 blogs I follow these days…… thank you for always being true to yourself (and thereby, to us)
Susan M
I appreciate your message and Paul’s ..this is how it ought to work, I’m learning a lot from him and people like him.
Jon, I very much appreciate your political posts, as you’ve helped me see things in a new way from your experiences and perspective. I try to tread lightly around political things today, as people can become quite fiery about it, and lash out in fear. I tend to withdraw from angry displays of fear, and that can leave me without the information I need to make informed decisions. Your blog has been and is an educational one for me, and has nudged me into my own research, into reading books I may not have chosen myself, and into seeing the world of light, flowers and animals in new ways. Thank you, Jon, for your thoughtful posts.
❤️Jon , thank you! We must encourage freedom, as Maria says were not going back!❤️