Seeing with eyes open

These posts are exercises in critical thinking.

I’ve had the good fortune to know people who can see with eyes open.  They see things that others don’t, or see them differently.  Though not always—the trait is a fleeting one.  Fear is still the prime motivator.

Critical thinking takes us past our fears.  It’s an acquired taste.

It is enough, at first, to learn the skills of critical thinking and coax ourselves to use them.  What are we told before takeoff—”put on your own oxygen mask first”?

But there’s more at stake, isn’t there?  Not all of our fears are imagined.  Things are happening to our country, our world, our planet.  We know it, we feel it, even with eyes closed.

We needn’t remain helpless observers.  It begins with us.  We can become bolder than we’ve been.

We must give ourselves permission to look with eyes open and say aloud what we see.