"Before emptying, there must be fullness.
Before shrinking, there must be expanding.
Before falling, there must be ascent.
To destroy something, lead it to its extreme.
To preserve something, keep to the middle."
There is a lot in the Tao's verse for today that seems relevant to this election season, but I won't go there this time; I will let my readers draw their own parallels. I'd like to take a more personal view, remembering a phrase I saw on a tee-shirt one day in Istanbul: "I'm not antisocial; society is anti-me." I felt this then as keenly as now; as a woman with a disability not easily observed or categorized by its manifestations, I often find myself either ignored by or in opposition to the people and communities around me. I have learned to use this to my advantage, trying to develop the discretion and sensitivity required to approach those who also find themselves on the fringes. I make mistakes, and big ones, but always I am guided back to a middle way.
Before shrinking, there must be expanding.
Before falling, there must be ascent.
To destroy something, lead it to its extreme.
To preserve something, keep to the middle."
There is a lot in the Tao's verse for today that seems relevant to this election season, but I won't go there this time; I will let my readers draw their own parallels. I'd like to take a more personal view, remembering a phrase I saw on a tee-shirt one day in Istanbul: "I'm not antisocial; society is anti-me." I felt this then as keenly as now; as a woman with a disability not easily observed or categorized by its manifestations, I often find myself either ignored by or in opposition to the people and communities around me. I have learned to use this to my advantage, trying to develop the discretion and sensitivity required to approach those who also find themselves on the fringes. I make mistakes, and big ones, but always I am guided back to a middle way.
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