The parts are greater than the whole!!

In reading some of the blogs of others I am struck by the realization of the effect we all have on one another. We each individually record our thoughts about life around us and the things we encounter as well as the reaction we have to them. These individual efforts create a much broader canvas of thought that tends to flesh out the original ideas and create a greater understanding of the "big picture". We are struck by the humor in the ideas and we feel a certain kinship with the difficulties that others are experiencing. We come to better understand one another in a different way than we sometimes do through direct personal interaction. Our blog is a place where we can perhaps unload ideas that would otherwise grow to be a burden. It is truly therapeutic to just put into words some of the feelings and frustrations that we are experiencing.

I recently read an entry in my sister's blog that struck home with me. She was venting about problems she was having with the phone company. I have been there a number of times through the years and have often wondered why it had to be so difficult. It seems like there is no one person we can speak to that will help us with the problem. We are always referred to a supervisor or some other department. My frustration with the phone company have ended though now that I have wireless broadcast internet and no home phone. I simply have no reason to interact with them in any way. But there are endless other instances where I need to get the problem resolved and no one seems able to help me. I wish that phone trees had never been invented because they are the most annoying part of the process. I can't even call my local credit union or the post office without being connected to some central "answering service" that usually can't answer my question anyway. I sympathize with the travails of others and pray that someday, somehow real personal service will again be part of our lives.
It is also good to read the thoughts and reactions of my niece in regard to agency. By taking the experiences and thoughts of others on a subject and weaving them into a better understanding of our own thoughts, we all benefit. It is certainly true that we all wish we had done many things better. We also wish that we hadn't done some things at all. But in the end it is the exercise of agency by others that causes us the most frustration. I certainly would never want to take away the agency of others but wish that it affected me less. The only one that we have control over though is ourselves and so I must do all that I can to avoid causing others grief by my actions. We had an enjoyable 4th of July and hope that everyone else out there did as well. Let's all just keep plugging along and do the best that we can.