Me? A Liberal?

I've never had a very clear perception what liberalism was all about..

Often i percieved liberals as those who simply refused to adhere to what they call 'old-fashioned brouhaha'. The word liberal usually followed my thoughts with images of naked bodies rubbing against each other in one sweaty orgy...

It seemed like good fun, but it wasn't me...

well, at least that was what i thought.

recently i had the chance to sit in a talk given by Lord Alderdice, president of Liberal International.

He is a rather large, roundish man with much facial hair. Thats him in the photo

So he started off by talking about his experience, growing up in the violent era of Protestant-Catholic conflict in Ireland, when people got shot in the streets and bombings were common.. not too different from Iraq today.

He explained to us how the Catholics were sidelined in the north and how, after realizing that they were being treated as second-class citizens began an uprising against the Protestant majority.

He went on tho recall how he joined a liberal party with a bunch of other like minded protestants and catholics in the hopes that they could bridge the gap between the two conflicting parties.

It was a long process he says, one with much obstacles, the biggest being the fact that conservatives parties on both sides shunned them.

eventually peace did come about, albeit 25 years later, but it did come about...

Although he did not say it outright, Northern Ireland today owes some of it thanks to the efforts of the liberal party.

So what is liberalism?

Well, in the words of Lord Alderdice,

Liberaliam is the pursuit of freedom and the generosity of spirit.

in other words, Liberalism advocates understanding and co-existence between different parties. It advocates freedom within reasonable boundaries. And it also finds a way to bring people together to work towards common issues in a way where it benefits everyone.

Liberalism should not be confused with the freedom nonsense being shitted out by Bush. What his administration (which is staunchly conservative) has done is that they have taken noble ideals and made a mockery of them by violently forcing it down the throats of others.

A liberal is not necessarily un-religious. A lot of liberal thinkers are religious people, in fact some of the more prominent liberal thinkers like John Locke and Friedrich Naumann were theologists. It is in fact, because of religion that one becomes a liberal, for there is no religion that does not promote understanding and co-existence with one another.

A liberal is a person who understands that education is the key to better understanding amongst the members of society. He/She is a person who realises that he/she should understand people and get them to understand each other. They are the advocates of peaceful solutions to any problem. A liberal seeks to pool the strengths of different parties to work towards common goals.

A liberal is a person who facilitates the healing of society and leaves no one out, be they socialist, capitalist, conservative, fundamentalist or any other new, unknown denomination.

Well, at least that was the idea that i got from Lord Alderdice's talk.

Then i realised that perhaps, i myself am a Liberal.

I seek to understand others

I have a strong desire to learn

And I have a strong urge to share my knowledge with others

I suppose that I am a Liberal...

huh...

hmm

interesting......