Recently a story appeared on the local news. It seemed noble at first. But then.
It featured a man who was injured years ago while riding his bike. Someone came along in a car and knocked him good. As a result, he sustained a severe brain injury. These days, the guy appears to be much better. And with that, he is riding his new bike across America in hopes of raising awareness concerning brain injuries.
They showed a clip of him and his buddy, riding along, not on conventional bikes, but on those low-to-the-ground, three-wheeled numbers.
But here is the thing. Neither one of them was wearing a helmet.
This is one of many things about this world that makes no sense to me.
A contradiction of terms? It seems that way to me. It is defined as “a statement or group of words associating objects or ideas that are incompatible.”
You would think that someone who sustained a brain injury while riding a bike would be an advocate for helmet-wearing. But not this guy. I’m sorry for his trouble in life, for his accident. I am sorry he had to go through this. Yet, his decision not to wear a helmet gains no further sympathy from me.
But I’ll leave this one alone. Perhaps this man had a good reason to expose his noggin once again.
I will, however, mention another contradiction of terms that currently seems to be happening within a portion of our population.
It comes from many people who claim to be “Pro-Life.” Mostly, what it means is that they oppose abortion. They believe that life begins at conception, and abortion is murder.
Let me be clear about something. I don’t think abortion is the best choice. But sometimes it is the only choice.
Back to the pro-lifers.
While they think abortion is murder, they often support gun rights. They do not want things like assault weapons banned. They believe everyone should be allowed to carry as many guns as they please.
Let me tell you this. In 2020, the most recent year that complete data is available, 45,222 people died from gun-related injuries in the United States, according to the CDC. That figure includes gun murders and gun suicides.
Alrighty then.
Many of these same people support the death penalty. That means killing a person for a crime they’ve committed.
These things seem to contradict the term pro-life. They should call themselves what they are. Supporters of murder except in the case of fetuses.
There are many more layers to these contradictions, like the fact that the same group is against aiding the millions of parentless, homeless, starving children already here.
We’ve all contradicted ourselves at times.
We’ve made mistakes or have regretted a decision.
But to embrace these things as a battle cry?
It doesn’t make a bit of sense to me.
Sometimes, I miss the bigger picture.
However, in this case, I think I see things as big as you please.
And this is much bigger than I please.
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“If a man never contradicts himself, the reason must be that he virtually never says anything at all.”
― Erwin Schrödinger
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“The world is a contradiction; the universe a paradox.”
― Kedar Joshi
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“The world is a contradiction; the universe a paradox.”
― Kedar Joshi
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The big contradiction of terms, we see.
