September 29, 2023 – A

Reelfoot Lake 17 11/04/2015 Oil Paint Rendered — Reelfoot Lake State Park, Tiptonville, Tennessee
Why spend our time with people
who cannot take "No" for an answer? 

Taking "No" for an answer is
the primary ingredient in maturation.
It is instrumental in "getting over it,"
and nothing is more essential 
to our development
than "getting over it"
and "moving on."

People who cannot do those things
are drains on everyone else,
sapping the life energy out of every room
in demanding that everything revolve
around them
and their need to be happy in all things
at all times.

The entire attraction of,
and motivation to attain, power
is grounded in the inability
to take "No" for an answer.

Wealth is just a weapon to wield 
in refusing to take "No" 
for an answer.

All of the problems of humankind
come down to a refusal
to take "No" for an answer.

And being able to take "No"
for an answer
is the foundation of all helpful,
healing,
relationships,
and the ground of our ability
to live together in ways that 
are good for each other
and the entire species/world.

It is what holds everything together
and enables us to find the way
through disappointment,
heartache,
grief,
loss
and sorrow,
in getting over it
and moving on.

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Published by jimwdollar

I'm retired, and still finding my way--but now, I don't have to pretend that I know what I'm doing. I retired after 40.5 years as a minister in the Presbyterian Church USA, serving churches in Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina. I graduated from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, in Austin, Texas, and Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. My wife, Judy, and I have three daughters, five granddaughters, one great granddaughter, and a great grandson on the way, within about ten minutes from where we live--and are enjoying our retirement as much as we have ever enjoyed anything.

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