{"id":6634,"date":"2013-08-18T17:14:02","date_gmt":"2013-08-18T21:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beginnersheart\/?p=6634"},"modified":"2013-08-18T17:14:02","modified_gmt":"2013-08-18T21:14:02","slug":"square-sisters-and-common-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2013\/08\/square-sisters-and-common-ground.html","title":{"rendered":"square sisters and common ground…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image\"<\/a>I have three sisters. People who know all of us well — a small number (we tend to overwhelm in large doses!) would say we’re not much alike. We would agree. But we also can give you countless examples of a perfect stranger asking one or the other of us, “Are you Diane’s sister?”\u00a0<\/em>or “You must be Dori’s sister!<\/em>”\u00a0<\/em>And yet we differ in height, hair colour, complexions, religious beliefs — in most ways you would ‘recognise’ similarities.<\/p>\n

So two of my sisters have been spending more time together lately, and apparently one said to the other:\u00a0We’re really not much alike<\/em>. The other agreed\/ disagreed. Her marvelous take on it is that we’re four sides of the same square.<\/p>\n

Okay, you KNOW how I love metaphors! And this one, to me, is particularly apt. There is this lovely common ground that connects us –Vi\u1ec7t Nam (we are all Third Culture kids<\/a>), moving, summers on an island, alot of moves… Far more has shaped the centre of that square than the differences of the four sides. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

We think of ourselves in stairsteps: the 1st sister (me); the 2nd sister — my retired Army sgt sister; the 3rd sister, who was in the National Guard and has done retail for years; my 4th sister, who has worked at a university for years. One of us has three children. One has none. Two are divorced, one separated, while I’m happily married for a zillion years.<\/p>\n

Some folks would see these as differences. We often do. But when we talk of my parents — all of us still call my father\u00a0Daddy<\/em>, and my mother is often still\u00a0Mommy —\u00a0<\/em>or exchange conflicting tales of our this family story or that, it is that common ground that trumps. \"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What if each of us saw ourselves as part of some infinite-numbered, equal-side polygon? Something so multi-sided that we resembled a circle, to all intents? What if we focused on the common ground in the middle, that which joins us, rather than the tiny segment that represents us…?<\/p>\n

I know — it’s another darn metaphor. But this one is NOT my fault, and it’s a good one! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have three sisters. People who know all of us well — a small number (we tend to overwhelm in large doses!) would say we’re not much alike. We would agree. But we also can give you countless examples of a perfect stranger asking one or the other of us, “Are you Diane’s sister?”\u00a0or “You…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,265,106,1],"tags":[11,1181,1187,262,395,1195,248,1231],"class_list":["post-6634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-lovingkindness","category-metaphor","category-uncategorized","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhism","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-common-ground","tag-family","tag-goodwill","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nsquare sisters and common ground... - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I have three sisters. People who know all of us well -- a small number (we tend to overwhelm in large doses!) would say we're not much alike. 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