by Diane Widler Wenzel: Not about political issues: About how I think about the issues

This blog is about our culture  - not our current political debate. How we think and understand is a cultural topic not meant to spark a debate on current events. I am writing my story.  How I came to the way I think about our polarized culture! What I have worked at trying to understand most of my life!  And still working to understand! Why I feel the need to share!

Grandfather Emile

My Facebook posts reflect a passion for bridging the gap between my left wing friends and my right wing ones.  My desire comes from my grandfather Emile Widler who said he hoped I would study what really happened in his once adopted country China before he immigrated. My passion comes from studying the background conditions for Communism taking hold in China through the lenses of people mentioned in my Great Uncle Elly Widler's book, SIX MONTHS PRISONER OF THE SZECHWAN MILITARY.

 Around 1919 Great Uncle Elly met up frequently with Louis M. King in Tatsienlu, Tibet where Elly was situated for 8 months. Widler wrote, " Mr. King is one of the few living great Asiatic Explorers. I pondered upon the long talks we used to have in far away Tatsienlu. Mr. King had a natural gift of gab, and it used to be a pleasure to sit down for two to three hours at a stretch and hear him talk."

King's book, WARDEN OF THE MARCHES, contains two concepts that I keep in mind even decades after I read his book. Their truth in China parallels the truth in the United States today. First is the power of a weak outsider to change the course of history. Even a small weak power can cause Chinese to believe they see dragons that do not exist. In the borderlands of Tibet and China the weak outsider was the International KKK also known as the Hidden Empire.  It was easy for the outsiders to warp the Chinese perception of the reality of dragons? It was not because of stupidity but it was their desires connected to their mythology of folk tales. The childhood folk stories of good dragons caused them to want to believe what they desired to believe.

Grandfather just before he passed away came to visit us and he was careful not to outwardly go against my father's wish to not to burden me with his activist ideas. Or Grandfather was just accustomed to esoteric symbolism because he lived most of his life in oppressive China where freely speaking would have been a foolish act of endangering yourself and family. Against my father's wishes he planted seeds in me.  He gave me a three sentence typed translated Chinese folk tale about dragons. Dragons were good because they symbolized hope to an otherwise hopeless people. The Dragon stayed in a cave and kept old books. The dragon read old books and slept on them. When the people were suffering from drought and despair the dragon hears the people and wakes to fly from his cave. The people see the dragon fly and hope is restored.

Since 1961 I have been haunted thinking about what his short story meant and what my role could be. Something in me wants to be like the good dragon in the cave. I have dragon passion. I am greatful that I am haunted.

 Our desire to believe is stronger than the smartest rational thinking whether you are the most read and smartest person or of average knowledge and intellect. In this human truth we are all equal. True a hundred years ago as it is now. True in China as it is here and now. Being mindful of this truth means I see us all as being equal in the cycles of nation building and decline caused by polarizing groups, the challenges of media technologies, and the destruction of governance.  Being mindful of this truth helps me to try to listen for a basic core hidden in the rhetoric of opposing views of reality to mine. Being mindful of our human desire overriding intellect helps me to shed personal attacks without retaliation. Though not always successfully!

Today in the United States we are receptive to being manipulated whether the manipulators are power seekers or the humanity of our brains. The process of altered perception may have many causes. One cause of altered reality may be the increased urbanization of the population where most people do not understand where their food is coming from and the needs of the people who grow it.

The other idea that stands out from King's writing is the power of rumors.  Rumors spread fear that can destroy a dynasty even when the rumors are highly unlikely. Just bringing up rumors may spark the fear I feel. It is difficult to keep all who read me on my intent to focus on the process of thinking and feeling about what we know. I hope my story here will be effective where Face Book posts have failed.