These posts were kind of short so you’re getting a 2-fer even though they’re very unrelated subjects!

Me: Are there variations of emotional intelligence? Not just tapping into information but emotions too? Because there are some people here who are pretty emotionally clueless. My husband’s one of them, and sometimes he’ll say something and Annika says, “Do you hear the words that are coming out of your mouth?” It’s a language thing, him being Norwegian and all.

Jamie bursts out in laughter.

Me: So are there varying degrees of emotional intelligence there?

Erik: Yes, but it’s not about ignorance or what you might consider the lower vibrational emotions like jealousy, anger, frustration. It’s more of a simplicity where emotional intelligence is—it’s always wide open. It’s always vulnerable here. There’s no need to have it any other way. No other way is available.

Me: Okay.

Erik: Now, there are emotional vulnerabilities that kind of stay within that one spirit’s universe, just right around themselves. Think of it as variations of shining, how far light goes.

Me: Interesting.

Erik: You can have your light shine six inches away from you or, you know, four thousand miles. It’s a choice of where you want to be. You have that variation, but you don’t have the variations of dumbing it down, dimming it down or making it bigger or better than everybody else. In this essence, we’re all truly great at it, because there’s no need for it to be any other way.

Me: Well, is it a choice how far you want to shine your light?

Erik: Yes.

Me: So it’s not innate.

Erik: No, no. Total choice. You can be wanting to spend alone time. Then you pull your light in.

Me: So it’s more like some people just want the simplicity?

Erik: Yes.

Me: Okay. That’s fascinating.

***********************

Me: Will there be a time when common sense will be valued again and become the norm. This blog member says, “I feel like we live in a society where lawyers are king as is the insurance for everything, and people are so afraid of being sued that we almost live in fear of doing something wrong and experiencing the consequences of being human.” There is a lot of stupidity out there, like the lady who spilled the hot coffee on herself and sued McDonalds. Now we have to have labels telling us that hot coffee is, well, hot! It’s crazy.

Jamie (chuckling in agreement): Did you hear about the lady who trimmed back some invasive plants at a public park and she was put in jail because they wanted to make an example out of her that you’re not supposed to cut, trim or pull plants in public parks?

Me (with a gasp): Put her in jail?

Jamie: Put her in jail, yes. She had to pay this huge fee and everything and all she was doing was she was aware that it was an invasive, fast growing and it would choke out the, um, what do you call it? The plants that naturally grow there.

Me: That’s crazy. And what about the Paula Deen thing? That was horrible what she did, but—

Jamie: I don’t even know what she did.

Me: She used the ‘N word” and she also had some party where black servers were wearing white suits and gloves or something. Kind of a Civil War era garb. But then you have black comedians like Chris Rock calling white people names like cracker and honky and whitey. Why is that disparity and hypocrisy so common in the word. Such double standards and no common sense.

Jamie: That’s what Erik was talking about. He’s cracking up and saying, “Double standards, man.”

Me: I know. Why? Maybe that’s part of the whole entitlement dilemma like, “I’m entitled to be treated with respect but you aren’t.”

Erik: Well, yeah, but it’s also the crackers backing down because, you know, we’re the ones who did fuck up.

Me: Yeah.

Erik: And we know that. And we didn’t just fuck up with the African American people. We did it with the Native Americans.

Me (somberly): Yeah, but I’m talking about the double standards. It goes both ways. Caucasians very often expect one thing but won’t allow the other races to have it, so I’m not singling out blacks in many ways.

Erik: No, I’m with you. That’s why they call it double standards. But I’m just saying it’s funny how the white people back down and take the abuse—the word calling, the name-calling. “Just for a little bit. Ha ha. So our souls don’t have to be guilty for what we did.” It’s just so stupid. Fucking shake hands, everyone.

Me: I know. This all just makes it persist. The double standards just highlight division.

Erik: You know what gets me?

(Pause)

Me (chuckling): No.

Jamie (giggling): Yeah, that’s what I said. I’m looking at him and he laughs.

Erik: It’s not the only thing that gets me, but it makes me laugh pretty fucking hard. The gays, lesbians, bi’s, tri’s, whatever they are, all of them, they fight for their own rights, but at the same time, they have Gay Pride and all of these pride celebrations that they won’t let straight people come to. It’s just for them.

Me: They do? What’s a tri?

Jamie: He’s just rolling out things.

Me: Oh, okay.

Jamie: Trans, maybe?

Me: Yeah, he must mean transgender.

Jamie: Yeah, transgender.

Erik: But it’s so funny because by having these things they single themselves out. Have grand parties, but let everybody be a part of your culture! This is what’s going to smooth the peanut butter on a fresh slice of bread.

Me (teasing): But is it whole wheat bread? That’s the big question.

Erik: It’s multi-grain, Mom.

As I type this, I realize that this is his reference to our multi-cultural society.

Jamie and I laugh. I’m wondering at this point if we’ve even gotten to the original question.

Me: Well, eventually we’ll interbreed so much that we’ll all be the same color. Maybe that’s the answer. I hope it doesn’t take that long.