I post this every year on this day. Every year, it seems more and more vivid and alive and current.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained, and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.
He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.
He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.
He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:
For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:
For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:
For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.
We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Source: The Pennsylvania Packet, July 8, 1776
Wednesday, July 04, 2018
Tuesday, July 03, 2018
Trying A Different Style Of Writing
Over the last few weeks I have been experimenting with a different sort of writing process: instead of writing things every day, I have been writing them for a full week at one sitting.
The past few months have been rather busy, with work becoming more and more of a time consuming machine (followed by the catch up at home). What I found is that the quality of my output was not really rising to my satisfaction and I was stressing out about creating the next day's article. Writing had become not fun any more. And when something is not fun, it needs to be reviewed and either changed or discarded.
Now, I write on Sunday afternoons for the whole week. I have started to put things into buckets as well: A Few Words on Saturdays, God Thoughts on Sunday, etc. I found that this format relieves my stress of "what will I write about?" as well as giving me the ability to look out into the world and have a little fun.
Thanks for your patience. Hopefully this will result in me producing a better product and enjoying the process of creating as I used to.
The past few months have been rather busy, with work becoming more and more of a time consuming machine (followed by the catch up at home). What I found is that the quality of my output was not really rising to my satisfaction and I was stressing out about creating the next day's article. Writing had become not fun any more. And when something is not fun, it needs to be reviewed and either changed or discarded.
Now, I write on Sunday afternoons for the whole week. I have started to put things into buckets as well: A Few Words on Saturdays, God Thoughts on Sunday, etc. I found that this format relieves my stress of "what will I write about?" as well as giving me the ability to look out into the world and have a little fun.
Thanks for your patience. Hopefully this will result in me producing a better product and enjoying the process of creating as I used to.
Monday, July 02, 2018
An Unexpected Turn of Conversation
During a recent conversation about a current event, I was brought into close quarters with the threat of ending a relationship - something that has not happened to me in a very long time. It occurred at a discussion of general nature, but somehow turned to a specific event in the current media. The phrase "This answer is really important to our relationship" was used.
My mind froze. I had no answer ready at hand.
I have read of these circumstances occurring and more lately in certain circles, the ending of friendship and relationships over a particular political or religious belief. And I suppose that in all fairness these things have materialized in my own life as well, albeit as a simple drifting apart to maintain the peace. I can honestly say this was the first time in a very long time that it has occurred.
Ultimately, of course, this sort of conversation goes nowhere. Very few people are willing to immediately and right there end a relationship in the midst of a discussion, perhaps a heated one to boot. What will happen - at least what happened to me - was an instinctive and immediate curling of the soul into a ball that in some ways I do not know if I will ever come out of.
Finding another person's boundaries at the wrong moment is always a terrifying thing. In one second the genteel facades we all maintain to stay in communication falls away and we are forced to recognize that there is a limit which we will never be able to go beyond - perhaps more importantly, will never be willing to even test again. The world of that relationship shrinks a bit and from then on, only the safe and non-controversial topics are discussed - until often they, too, fall by the wayside in the general loss of communication.
This has happened once before with someone else, from an angle and a place I did not expect. And sadly - tragically perhaps - nothing was ever the same. In the rush and passion to prove a point, the long term goal of relationship - authentic trust and sharing - is shattered, perhaps never to return fully.
My mind froze. I had no answer ready at hand.
I have read of these circumstances occurring and more lately in certain circles, the ending of friendship and relationships over a particular political or religious belief. And I suppose that in all fairness these things have materialized in my own life as well, albeit as a simple drifting apart to maintain the peace. I can honestly say this was the first time in a very long time that it has occurred.
Ultimately, of course, this sort of conversation goes nowhere. Very few people are willing to immediately and right there end a relationship in the midst of a discussion, perhaps a heated one to boot. What will happen - at least what happened to me - was an instinctive and immediate curling of the soul into a ball that in some ways I do not know if I will ever come out of.
Finding another person's boundaries at the wrong moment is always a terrifying thing. In one second the genteel facades we all maintain to stay in communication falls away and we are forced to recognize that there is a limit which we will never be able to go beyond - perhaps more importantly, will never be willing to even test again. The world of that relationship shrinks a bit and from then on, only the safe and non-controversial topics are discussed - until often they, too, fall by the wayside in the general loss of communication.
This has happened once before with someone else, from an angle and a place I did not expect. And sadly - tragically perhaps - nothing was ever the same. In the rush and passion to prove a point, the long term goal of relationship - authentic trust and sharing - is shattered, perhaps never to return fully.
Sunday, July 01, 2018
Turning From Sadness
"Therefore my advice to you, friends,
is to turn aside from troubled and anxious reflection
on your own progress,
and escape to the easier paths of remembering the
good things God has done.
In this way, instead of becoming upset by thinking
about yourself,
you will find relief by turning your attention to
God....
Sorrow for sin is indeed a necessary thing,
but it should not prevail all the time.
On the contrary, it is necessary that happier
reflections of God's generosity
should counterbalance it,
lest the heart should become hardened through too
much sadness and so perish through despair."
- Bernard of Clairvaux (The Way of Simplicity, Esther De Waal)
Saturday, June 30, 2018
A Few Words From...Robert E. Howard
"Barbarism is the natural state of mankind...Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And barbarism must always ultimately triumph."
- "Beyond the Black River""
- "Beyond the Black River""
Friday, June 29, 2018
Not All That Wander...
Today's post is brought to you by Glen Filthie. Thanks Glen. This perfectly describes me:
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Going Home
As you read this in the morning, I am on a flight headed to The Ranch.
It is just the youngest Nighean Dhonn and myself for a week visiting my parents and in-laws and some old friends. No particular need prompted this, other than the need to simply get back home.
In a way it is the worst time to go: we have so much going on at work and sometime in, say, September would be better. But I am old enough and wise enough to know that truly, the "right time" never really comes.
So we are off to go places and do things and see people, and hopefully to get me a little more grounded again.
It is just the youngest Nighean Dhonn and myself for a week visiting my parents and in-laws and some old friends. No particular need prompted this, other than the need to simply get back home.
In a way it is the worst time to go: we have so much going on at work and sometime in, say, September would be better. But I am old enough and wise enough to know that truly, the "right time" never really comes.
So we are off to go places and do things and see people, and hopefully to get me a little more grounded again.
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
The Debris of Relationships
Sometimes looking at the debris of human relationships in my life, I wonder.
I have now lost contact with more people that I will ever meet in the rest of my life. Exclude the phenomena of social media and the odds get so much worse.
Though social media right now, I am in semi-regular contact with 3 people from my pre-high school days, 3 people from high school, 0 people from college and post graduate school, < 10 people for my entire career from 1996 to 2009. My single biggest contact groups remain my activities. Peel away social media, and that number drops significantly to those I see on a regular basis because of another activity.
I assume like everyone - but perhaps more than most - I have created this situation as well as been a victim of it. I have not been as thoughtful as I should be, often replacing it with a range of questionable personal traits. And in a world where the default mode is to be "in touch", the fact that so many have moved on suggests the very real situation that it was for a reason.
Relationships are very funny things. The combination of human beings into any sort of working relationship at all is kind of amazing, given how individualistic and different we are. The fact that any such relationships can move into a relationship where people are willing to subsume their idiosyncrasies for the sake of the relationship is even more amazing.
SO perhaps the fact that the dissolve rather frequently should not be a surprise.
To go through the debris from time to time is to stir up the dust of memory. In the hazy sunlight the friendship motes tinkle and sparkle: here a joke, there the time you needed a hug because the unthinkable happened, way up in the top left hand corner is the road trip where lightning lit up the entire sky at the dead of night.
And then the dust re-settles.
So much of my day now is consumed in working solitude, the associations of work that I have come to understand are often the tools of convenience by which we make a living - when I leave and go on, it will largely be as if the relationships never were. And it is in those moments that I find that the debris of human relationships becomes a poignant reminder of a life that never quite went the way that I had expected.
I have now lost contact with more people that I will ever meet in the rest of my life. Exclude the phenomena of social media and the odds get so much worse.
Though social media right now, I am in semi-regular contact with 3 people from my pre-high school days, 3 people from high school, 0 people from college and post graduate school, < 10 people for my entire career from 1996 to 2009. My single biggest contact groups remain my activities. Peel away social media, and that number drops significantly to those I see on a regular basis because of another activity.
I assume like everyone - but perhaps more than most - I have created this situation as well as been a victim of it. I have not been as thoughtful as I should be, often replacing it with a range of questionable personal traits. And in a world where the default mode is to be "in touch", the fact that so many have moved on suggests the very real situation that it was for a reason.
Relationships are very funny things. The combination of human beings into any sort of working relationship at all is kind of amazing, given how individualistic and different we are. The fact that any such relationships can move into a relationship where people are willing to subsume their idiosyncrasies for the sake of the relationship is even more amazing.
SO perhaps the fact that the dissolve rather frequently should not be a surprise.
To go through the debris from time to time is to stir up the dust of memory. In the hazy sunlight the friendship motes tinkle and sparkle: here a joke, there the time you needed a hug because the unthinkable happened, way up in the top left hand corner is the road trip where lightning lit up the entire sky at the dead of night.
And then the dust re-settles.
So much of my day now is consumed in working solitude, the associations of work that I have come to understand are often the tools of convenience by which we make a living - when I leave and go on, it will largely be as if the relationships never were. And it is in those moments that I find that the debris of human relationships becomes a poignant reminder of a life that never quite went the way that I had expected.
Monday, June 25, 2018
A Changed Battery
Last Monday, the completely expected/unexpected event happened: my car battery died.
I did not suspect it at first - I thought I had somehow managed to kill the car remote again. It was only when I got in the car and tried to turn it over and was met with dead silence that I thought perhaps something else was up. No lights, no, "click click" of a dying battery, nothing.
Well, shoot.
I got out, popped open the hood, got into the battery case and then went for the jumper cables (Public Service Announcement: opening a trunk with a keyless entry when the battery is dead = circus act). I hooked the cables up to the van, turned the van on, and then tried again. Nothing. I readjusted the cables on my battery once, twice, thrice. Not a peep.
Great. I need a new battery.
Grabbed the socket set. Four nuts and some pushing around in the engine compartment (Mazda engine compartments are none too roomy to work in) I had the battery out. A trip to my local Big Box store and battery in hand, I returned and reassembled the battery and car. Total time. About an hour. I even had time on my way to work to reset all of my radio stations.
The point of this story is not particularly that I could do it - it is the moment that I realized I knew how to do it.
I am lucky. I great up in a time where such things were possible and expected and had a father and father-in-law skilled enough to teach me these things. I often take that for granted - except I fear that I currently know any number of people to whom this would seem a mystical act or all day event.
I could be acting overdramatically as I often do, but it occurs to me that we are losing certain kinds of knowledge at a quickly increasing rate - not the sort of knowledge of science and technology (which is always growing) but the knowledge of how to do basic mechanical and general living tasks like cooking, caring for, making by hand, or fixing.
We are currently exchanging our ability to function independently for a cornucopia of knowledge that comes attached to a dependence on technology that we can neither understand nor control nor (for most of us) recreate. It worries me a bit what happens if and when that technology fails.
I did not suspect it at first - I thought I had somehow managed to kill the car remote again. It was only when I got in the car and tried to turn it over and was met with dead silence that I thought perhaps something else was up. No lights, no, "click click" of a dying battery, nothing.
Well, shoot.
I got out, popped open the hood, got into the battery case and then went for the jumper cables (Public Service Announcement: opening a trunk with a keyless entry when the battery is dead = circus act). I hooked the cables up to the van, turned the van on, and then tried again. Nothing. I readjusted the cables on my battery once, twice, thrice. Not a peep.
Great. I need a new battery.
Grabbed the socket set. Four nuts and some pushing around in the engine compartment (Mazda engine compartments are none too roomy to work in) I had the battery out. A trip to my local Big Box store and battery in hand, I returned and reassembled the battery and car. Total time. About an hour. I even had time on my way to work to reset all of my radio stations.
The point of this story is not particularly that I could do it - it is the moment that I realized I knew how to do it.
I am lucky. I great up in a time where such things were possible and expected and had a father and father-in-law skilled enough to teach me these things. I often take that for granted - except I fear that I currently know any number of people to whom this would seem a mystical act or all day event.
I could be acting overdramatically as I often do, but it occurs to me that we are losing certain kinds of knowledge at a quickly increasing rate - not the sort of knowledge of science and technology (which is always growing) but the knowledge of how to do basic mechanical and general living tasks like cooking, caring for, making by hand, or fixing.
We are currently exchanging our ability to function independently for a cornucopia of knowledge that comes attached to a dependence on technology that we can neither understand nor control nor (for most of us) recreate. It worries me a bit what happens if and when that technology fails.
Sunday, June 24, 2018
Get Moving!
"We all have those times when there are no flashes of light and no apparent thrill to life, where we experience nothing but the daily routine with its common everyday tasks. The routine of life is actually God's way of saving us between our times of great inspiration which comes from Him. Don't always expect God to give you His thrilling moments, but learn to live in those common times of the drudgery of life by the power of God.
It is difficult to do the "adding" that Peter mentioned here (in 2 Peter 1:5). We say we do not expect God to take us to heaven on flower beds of ease and yet we act as if we do! I must realize that my obedience even in the smallest detail of life has ll of the omnipotent power of the grace of God behind it. If I will do my duty, not for the duty's sake but because I believe God is engineering my circumstances, then at the very point of my obedience all of the magnificent grace of God is mine through the glorious atonement by the Cross of Christ." - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest
It is difficult to do the "adding" that Peter mentioned here (in 2 Peter 1:5). We say we do not expect God to take us to heaven on flower beds of ease and yet we act as if we do! I must realize that my obedience even in the smallest detail of life has ll of the omnipotent power of the grace of God behind it. If I will do my duty, not for the duty's sake but because I believe God is engineering my circumstances, then at the very point of my obedience all of the magnificent grace of God is mine through the glorious atonement by the Cross of Christ." - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest
Saturday, June 23, 2018
Friday, June 22, 2018
Thursday, June 21, 2018
Things And Things Of Value
This past weekend, on a whim, I went through my Amazon list to see what was on it and total things up. The sum total of thing I have identified is somewhere around $550. Which sounds like a lot, of course - until I considered over time the change in my income. Which made me look at the larger list of things I want in general and figure out that for a not incredible sum of money, I could have all of them.
It is odd, really - I can remember a time where my material desires seemed to stretch as far as the horizon. I wanted this, I wanted that - to explore, to try, to test, to enjoy. But over time, the list becomes less and less, the things either less in amount but greater in value or simply not there at all.
The things I have come to value - solitude, freedom from having to do that which I do not enjoy, perhaps seeing places I have never been - are all thing which are really immaterial in manner and for which there is not really any "thing" to acquire. But in point of fact they are coming to mean more and more to me. And the money that was or could be spent on those things now represent the very sort of things that will allow me to acquire more of these new things of value.
A man can have enough books, enough swords, enough house, enough land. What a man cannot have enough of - time, freedom - are almost suddenly revealed to be the greatest things of value that I never really considered.
It is odd, really - I can remember a time where my material desires seemed to stretch as far as the horizon. I wanted this, I wanted that - to explore, to try, to test, to enjoy. But over time, the list becomes less and less, the things either less in amount but greater in value or simply not there at all.
The things I have come to value - solitude, freedom from having to do that which I do not enjoy, perhaps seeing places I have never been - are all thing which are really immaterial in manner and for which there is not really any "thing" to acquire. But in point of fact they are coming to mean more and more to me. And the money that was or could be spent on those things now represent the very sort of things that will allow me to acquire more of these new things of value.
A man can have enough books, enough swords, enough house, enough land. What a man cannot have enough of - time, freedom - are almost suddenly revealed to be the greatest things of value that I never really considered.
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
A New Windshield
For my birthday/anniversary/Father's Day, I got a new windshield.
My windshield has been cracked for going on 4 years now. Originally it started out as a rock chip, one of those bits and pieces flying off a truck proudly marked with "We take no responsibility for broken windshields from flying debris". Over time and temperature it expanded until I had a lightning strike stretching across the bulk of my windscreen.
I just lived with the issue - after all, it did not impact my ability to see through the windshield at all and to repair it would cost money. There was also that nagging voice that told me that if I got it repair, surely it would be immediately re-chipped and eventually re-broken. So I just continued to drive along.
Life with a broken windshield is not as bad as one might thing. Yes, it is a little bit embarrassing (if such things bother you) and it does make your car look like it should not be parked by (on the other hand, who wants to steal it). You reach the point that it simply becomes part of your daily existence.
And then, one day, it was suddenly gone.
Rather odd how everything looks without a crack running through it.
My windshield has been cracked for going on 4 years now. Originally it started out as a rock chip, one of those bits and pieces flying off a truck proudly marked with "We take no responsibility for broken windshields from flying debris". Over time and temperature it expanded until I had a lightning strike stretching across the bulk of my windscreen.
I just lived with the issue - after all, it did not impact my ability to see through the windshield at all and to repair it would cost money. There was also that nagging voice that told me that if I got it repair, surely it would be immediately re-chipped and eventually re-broken. So I just continued to drive along.
Life with a broken windshield is not as bad as one might thing. Yes, it is a little bit embarrassing (if such things bother you) and it does make your car look like it should not be parked by (on the other hand, who wants to steal it). You reach the point that it simply becomes part of your daily existence.
And then, one day, it was suddenly gone.
Rather odd how everything looks without a crack running through it.
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Praying For Other Governments
On Sunday at church, as periodically seem to do during a spasm of national concern about this or that, we prayed for our Federal government to make wise, informed choices about the decision they make. Oddly enough this is not a usual practice (although we are urged by Paul to pray for the governments over us and to be good citizens) but seems to only come up in specific situations.
As we were praying, the though occurred to me "Why are we not praying for other governments as well?"
We spend a fair amount of time in the media and society being told that we are an interconnected society and a global world, and that "problems" that impact us should be dealt with globally. But ultimately global problems come down to individual governments of nation-states which make decisions.
For example, we can pray for "our" government to make the right and just decisions about any number of issues - but do we, or even are we, encouraged to pray for the other governments involved as well to make the right and just decisions also? It feels quite easy to feel that we can pray for our own government and hold it "accountable" (which is only usually used when the policy is disagreed with). But are we willing to go out on the limb and hold the other governments accountable as well?
I suppose in some ways this is rooted in my continuing complaint that large scale anythings, be they governments or movements or companies, never solve anything. It is only (ultimately) at the local level that such things get resolved. The question is, do we want to pray for true resolution of issues, or only for the resolutions that somehow stroke our own feelings being socially conscious and politically astutue?
Monday, June 18, 2018
Falling Into The Eddies of Social Media
Falling into the eddies of social media has been an interesting experience.
Initially it was unplanned. I just stopped checking my Major Social Media account as much as I used to - no particular reason, except that I was just finding different things to do with my time. But I found my check-ins falling away from multiple times a day to 2-3 times a day to once a day or not at all.
What surprised me is how quickly everyone and everything suddenly seemed strange to me.
The Major Social Media - especially if you do not follow it regularly - becomes a mass of short post-it notes of people's lives, information drops of single dollops that become very overwhelming if you are not involved on a regular basis (as a side note, you also realize that you are contributing to the dollop/overwhelming situation as well).
You come to suddenly realize that all of these lives, these dollops of information that continually come in, are rolling along completely without you. Perhaps it is the nature of the media, but no-one seems to have noticed your absence. No-one comments on how your posts seem to be coming in less and less than they used to - unless you visibly commit Social Media suicide and comment as such (making your picture go dark, leaving the goodbye monologue, etc.)
In a way, it points out to me how incredibly disconnected and socially inept we have become.
I am fortunate - I have a fairly settled and secure character and am not (on the whole) trapped in needing to be relevant in social media to be important, of having my self worth checked by being "liked" all the time. But that said, I remember a time where friendships were built on actual contact on a regular basis and how a period of silence or absence would be noticed by those around you.
But now technology, to a large part, determines our "friendships" once we grow up. And social media is no longer a method of catching up but the method of friendship. We become dependent on the technology not only to sustain the relationship, but to build it in the first place.
My intent is not to re-engage on the level I was. I am curious to see what, if anything happens over time. My heartfelt suspicions is for 90% of those involved, I will simply continue to drift into the outer waters of the river of social media and thus lose relevance. Only the 10% - those who probably really do matter and care - will come rowing down the inlet to check in.
Initially it was unplanned. I just stopped checking my Major Social Media account as much as I used to - no particular reason, except that I was just finding different things to do with my time. But I found my check-ins falling away from multiple times a day to 2-3 times a day to once a day or not at all.
What surprised me is how quickly everyone and everything suddenly seemed strange to me.
The Major Social Media - especially if you do not follow it regularly - becomes a mass of short post-it notes of people's lives, information drops of single dollops that become very overwhelming if you are not involved on a regular basis (as a side note, you also realize that you are contributing to the dollop/overwhelming situation as well).
You come to suddenly realize that all of these lives, these dollops of information that continually come in, are rolling along completely without you. Perhaps it is the nature of the media, but no-one seems to have noticed your absence. No-one comments on how your posts seem to be coming in less and less than they used to - unless you visibly commit Social Media suicide and comment as such (making your picture go dark, leaving the goodbye monologue, etc.)
In a way, it points out to me how incredibly disconnected and socially inept we have become.
I am fortunate - I have a fairly settled and secure character and am not (on the whole) trapped in needing to be relevant in social media to be important, of having my self worth checked by being "liked" all the time. But that said, I remember a time where friendships were built on actual contact on a regular basis and how a period of silence or absence would be noticed by those around you.
But now technology, to a large part, determines our "friendships" once we grow up. And social media is no longer a method of catching up but the method of friendship. We become dependent on the technology not only to sustain the relationship, but to build it in the first place.
My intent is not to re-engage on the level I was. I am curious to see what, if anything happens over time. My heartfelt suspicions is for 90% of those involved, I will simply continue to drift into the outer waters of the river of social media and thus lose relevance. Only the 10% - those who probably really do matter and care - will come rowing down the inlet to check in.
Sunday, June 17, 2018
Compassion For Oneself
"When your household sits down to a meal,
if you are wise,
you will first sit down yourself,
and then you will be able to serve them
easily and happily.
In your charity to your neighbour,
remember that your nearest neighbour is yourself"
- John of Forde, (1150-1214), Abbott of Bindon
(Esther de Waal, The Way of Simplicity: The Cistercian Tradition)
Saturday, June 16, 2018
A Few Words From...Jocko Willink
"I can handle it when others cannot. When bad things are happening - I will be the one good thing - standing tall - that can be relied upon. I will bolster those around me. I am the positive attitude will spread. And we will fight. And in fighting, we will win. If not the battle and if not the war - we will win:
And that is the ultimate victory: to hold your head high, and - even in the face of inescapable defeat -
Because our spirit will never surrender.
And that is the ultimate victory: to hold your head high, and - even in the face of inescapable defeat -
To Stand and Fight."
- Discipline Equals Freedom Field Manual
Friday, June 15, 2018
2018 Garlic
So the 2018 Garlic Harvest is in:
Garlic remains one of only two things (Jalapenos being the other one). That I can grow. For some reason, the heads are always small. And there is never enough.
After cutting the stems:
There is a little more drying to do.
I never plant enough. But any effort to decrease dependence on the system is worthwhile.
Garlic remains one of only two things (Jalapenos being the other one). That I can grow. For some reason, the heads are always small. And there is never enough.
After cutting the stems:
There is a little more drying to do.
I never plant enough. But any effort to decrease dependence on the system is worthwhile.
Thursday, June 14, 2018
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Of Liberty And Freedom
We use the words Liberty and Freedom interchangeably. That is a bit of a shame, because in point of fact they colloquially imply different things.
Both of them (thanks, Merriam-Webster.com) imply the quality or state of being free. But one (liberty) implies the power to do something while the other (freedom) implies an absence of necessity or coercion.
An example: In the U.S. we refer to civil liberties (for example, the power to assemble, speak as we will, right to bear arms, due process, etc). These are items or powers which are not granted to us by any government or person but exist as rights derived from our Creator - from our simple existence. By contrast I have certain freedoms which exist as a result of a lack of government control - for example, the freedom to travel almost anywhere within the US or the freedom to buy most anything I want to.
Liberty and freedoms are both states, to be sure. I can be in a state of liberty and I can be in a state of freedom. But liberty implies (at least to me) the greater state in that I (should) not be infringed upon by my government in the exercise of this liberty. And within this liberty, I am free to do certain things.
Yes, I know. You may be thinking to yourself "TB Old Man, you are finally wandering in the woods". But this is why I think it is important.
A good many people these days argue for freedoms: "I should be free to do this or that." And perhaps they should. But in addressing the question this way, they are essentially begging permission of the powers that be - most often the governmental body of their choice - to allow them to do something. They are presuming that government has the right and ability to restrict them prima facia.
Liberty, on the other hand, is a very different assumption. It assumes that I have the ability to act without accessing the government for the permission to do or act. It also assumes that I have a greater ability to run my own affairs and make my own decision than the government (or any authoritarian body) has.
People should be arguing for more liberty, not necessarily for more freedom.
Both of them (thanks, Merriam-Webster.com) imply the quality or state of being free. But one (liberty) implies the power to do something while the other (freedom) implies an absence of necessity or coercion.
An example: In the U.S. we refer to civil liberties (for example, the power to assemble, speak as we will, right to bear arms, due process, etc). These are items or powers which are not granted to us by any government or person but exist as rights derived from our Creator - from our simple existence. By contrast I have certain freedoms which exist as a result of a lack of government control - for example, the freedom to travel almost anywhere within the US or the freedom to buy most anything I want to.
Liberty and freedoms are both states, to be sure. I can be in a state of liberty and I can be in a state of freedom. But liberty implies (at least to me) the greater state in that I (should) not be infringed upon by my government in the exercise of this liberty. And within this liberty, I am free to do certain things.
Yes, I know. You may be thinking to yourself "TB Old Man, you are finally wandering in the woods". But this is why I think it is important.
A good many people these days argue for freedoms: "I should be free to do this or that." And perhaps they should. But in addressing the question this way, they are essentially begging permission of the powers that be - most often the governmental body of their choice - to allow them to do something. They are presuming that government has the right and ability to restrict them prima facia.
Liberty, on the other hand, is a very different assumption. It assumes that I have the ability to act without accessing the government for the permission to do or act. It also assumes that I have a greater ability to run my own affairs and make my own decision than the government (or any authoritarian body) has.
People should be arguing for more liberty, not necessarily for more freedom.
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
The Dopamine of Social Media (and how to avoid it)
Within the last two weeks I have been reading a number of articles that make the point that social media is a great deal like an addictive drug.
The core of this argument is that when we engage in social media - when we are "liked" by someone for something that we have said - our brains get a small shot of dopamine, that reward to a stimulus that makes us feel pleasure and good about something. We can get it from other items as well - exercise, for example, can result in this if engaged it - but social media is a whole lot easier for the population to engage in.
As I read these articles, an aspect of my behavior suddenly become apparent to me.
I am always a great deal more likely to check social media like FaceMagazine when I have posted something. And sure enough when I do, I find that I get that little jolt of happiness: "Look, X liked my comment - or look there, Y gave me a little heart on my comment." I keep going back and back until the stream has played out and the comments have disappeared. And then, if I am not careful, I am back to looking for something else to give the same reaction.
In other words, I have become an addict.
If one is an addict, of course, one has only two options. The first is simply to do nothing and continue on - but that eventually leads to destruction as we are continue crave the jolt more and more and the old jolts just no longer do the job. We would have to stay on FaceMagazine longer and longer to get the same level of excitement (which, of course, is exactly what the founders of it were hoping for).
The second, of course, is to go cold turkey. To cut it off completely. To find the dopamine hits from legitimate pursuits instead of short cuts.
I will note in passing that blogs do not seem to have that same effect. I pondered this a bit and decided that perhaps it is due to the fact blog comments are discussion and thoughts, as well as "likes". I look forward to comments but do not react to them with the same sort of enzymatic glee.
Oddly enough, drug addiction due to craving of the dopamine receptors is seen as destructive and not productive. How is it that we have not come to view social media in the same way?
The core of this argument is that when we engage in social media - when we are "liked" by someone for something that we have said - our brains get a small shot of dopamine, that reward to a stimulus that makes us feel pleasure and good about something. We can get it from other items as well - exercise, for example, can result in this if engaged it - but social media is a whole lot easier for the population to engage in.
As I read these articles, an aspect of my behavior suddenly become apparent to me.
I am always a great deal more likely to check social media like FaceMagazine when I have posted something. And sure enough when I do, I find that I get that little jolt of happiness: "Look, X liked my comment - or look there, Y gave me a little heart on my comment." I keep going back and back until the stream has played out and the comments have disappeared. And then, if I am not careful, I am back to looking for something else to give the same reaction.
In other words, I have become an addict.
If one is an addict, of course, one has only two options. The first is simply to do nothing and continue on - but that eventually leads to destruction as we are continue crave the jolt more and more and the old jolts just no longer do the job. We would have to stay on FaceMagazine longer and longer to get the same level of excitement (which, of course, is exactly what the founders of it were hoping for).
The second, of course, is to go cold turkey. To cut it off completely. To find the dopamine hits from legitimate pursuits instead of short cuts.
I will note in passing that blogs do not seem to have that same effect. I pondered this a bit and decided that perhaps it is due to the fact blog comments are discussion and thoughts, as well as "likes". I look forward to comments but do not react to them with the same sort of enzymatic glee.
Oddly enough, drug addiction due to craving of the dopamine receptors is seen as destructive and not productive. How is it that we have not come to view social media in the same way?
Monday, June 11, 2018
Make (Fill In The Blank) Great (Again)
A thought that has occurred to me in this age of immigration and refugees fleeing from here to there is the nature of why they come.
Economic opportunity is a strong motivator. Fleeing from war and violence and war an even stronger one. For some perhaps it is just opportunity in general; for others a chance to live their lives as they see fit (instead of as their government or culture).
As I pondered the reason that migration happens even within nations that are neither at war or nor in significant disaster - such as our own migration from where we grew up to where we now live - I was struck by the fact that in some ways they are not different: economic opportunity or way of life or just general opportunity can move people from one location to another.
But in each and every one of these examples, the place to which you are going is the item of importance. The place that you came from does not have a great deal of relevance at all. In many cases, we tend to no longer think of it at all, or just nostalgically.
But that is part of the larger problem.
The current U.S. President's phrase of "Make America Great Again" has been either inspirational or a mockery, depending on which side of the political spectrum you fall. Setting aside politics for a moment, what is the conceptual problem with the concept of making something great - or great again?
Take Mexico, our immediate neighbor to the south, which is certain parts is horribly littered with crime and economic impoverishment and almost outright civil war. The things that motivate her citizens to come - Jobs, safety, security - are something that no-one can really argue against. But my question is simply this: what if we could make Mexico great?
Yes, I understand there are pretty significant obstacles (the drug trade that is largely supported by the U.S. comes to mind [which we have to address] as does an economy that could use significant assistance in developing). But would it not be worthwhile to spend the sort of time and effort and resources on this as to the other sorts of things we spend our money on?
Why not make Great Britain great again? Or Canada? Or Rwanda? Or Peru? Or anywhere, really?
Some might accuse of me of participating in nationalistic jingoism. That is not the point at all. I would argue that a country can be great - confident in culture, supportive of its citizens, with a thriving economy - and not go to war to do it. But it takes work - hard, long work, and a belief that such a thing is even possible. It also requires a believe in and commitment to the place you are it, a faith that it can be better - and the ability to communicate that belief and motivate with it.
So I suppose here is my challenge to all those argue that only through submission to the whole of World Government can we achieve greatness: if we have not been able to do it on a national level, whatever would convince us we could do it on an international level?
Instead, might we not consider just starting with making where we are great? And then branching out from there?
Economic opportunity is a strong motivator. Fleeing from war and violence and war an even stronger one. For some perhaps it is just opportunity in general; for others a chance to live their lives as they see fit (instead of as their government or culture).
As I pondered the reason that migration happens even within nations that are neither at war or nor in significant disaster - such as our own migration from where we grew up to where we now live - I was struck by the fact that in some ways they are not different: economic opportunity or way of life or just general opportunity can move people from one location to another.
But in each and every one of these examples, the place to which you are going is the item of importance. The place that you came from does not have a great deal of relevance at all. In many cases, we tend to no longer think of it at all, or just nostalgically.
But that is part of the larger problem.
The current U.S. President's phrase of "Make America Great Again" has been either inspirational or a mockery, depending on which side of the political spectrum you fall. Setting aside politics for a moment, what is the conceptual problem with the concept of making something great - or great again?
Take Mexico, our immediate neighbor to the south, which is certain parts is horribly littered with crime and economic impoverishment and almost outright civil war. The things that motivate her citizens to come - Jobs, safety, security - are something that no-one can really argue against. But my question is simply this: what if we could make Mexico great?
Yes, I understand there are pretty significant obstacles (the drug trade that is largely supported by the U.S. comes to mind [which we have to address] as does an economy that could use significant assistance in developing). But would it not be worthwhile to spend the sort of time and effort and resources on this as to the other sorts of things we spend our money on?
Why not make Great Britain great again? Or Canada? Or Rwanda? Or Peru? Or anywhere, really?
Some might accuse of me of participating in nationalistic jingoism. That is not the point at all. I would argue that a country can be great - confident in culture, supportive of its citizens, with a thriving economy - and not go to war to do it. But it takes work - hard, long work, and a belief that such a thing is even possible. It also requires a believe in and commitment to the place you are it, a faith that it can be better - and the ability to communicate that belief and motivate with it.
So I suppose here is my challenge to all those argue that only through submission to the whole of World Government can we achieve greatness: if we have not been able to do it on a national level, whatever would convince us we could do it on an international level?
Instead, might we not consider just starting with making where we are great? And then branching out from there?
Friday, June 08, 2018
Thursday, June 07, 2018
Summer Is Here
We are now into the full force of summer.
I do not know how summer is where you are. Here, it is hot. Hot and humid. Stupid hot and rather foolishly humid.
Our "typical" summer day seems to run somewhere between 95 and 102 F (32 to 38 C) and around 40-50% humidity (but as high as 60%). Unlike the places where I have grown up and lived, there are no pleasant breezes to move the hot air at night: it can be 90 F at 2100 and "cools" down to around 70 F/21 C at 0600 - but unfortunately, the humidity seems to actually go up so the cool part of the morning for aerobic sorts of things simply does not exist.
It certainly changes how you do things.
Essentially, I try to wrap up anything I want or need to do outdoors by 1000 or delay it until 1900. The direct sun is either not completely up or has sunk low enough in the sky to make the heat manageable for doing other activities. And drinking enough water simply does not seem possible.
Once - not too long after I moved and before the family joined me - I took a hike during the height of the day during the hottest summer on record. I managed to give myself a form of heat exhaustion; I never made that mistake again.
On the bright side, sun for the garden is not really a problem.
I do not know how summer is where you are. Here, it is hot. Hot and humid. Stupid hot and rather foolishly humid.
Our "typical" summer day seems to run somewhere between 95 and 102 F (32 to 38 C) and around 40-50% humidity (but as high as 60%). Unlike the places where I have grown up and lived, there are no pleasant breezes to move the hot air at night: it can be 90 F at 2100 and "cools" down to around 70 F/21 C at 0600 - but unfortunately, the humidity seems to actually go up so the cool part of the morning for aerobic sorts of things simply does not exist.
It certainly changes how you do things.
Essentially, I try to wrap up anything I want or need to do outdoors by 1000 or delay it until 1900. The direct sun is either not completely up or has sunk low enough in the sky to make the heat manageable for doing other activities. And drinking enough water simply does not seem possible.
Once - not too long after I moved and before the family joined me - I took a hike during the height of the day during the hottest summer on record. I managed to give myself a form of heat exhaustion; I never made that mistake again.
On the bright side, sun for the garden is not really a problem.
Wednesday, June 06, 2018
Tuesday, June 05, 2018
A Small Power Outage
On
Sunday Night, our power went out. It went down sometime around 0030,
part of a hit of 1500 lightning strikes and an inch of rain. When we
got up in the morning, the power was still out – and was not
predicted to be on until Wednesday evening (update: Power came on at 2200).
Mind
you, we live in a growing metropolitan area of over a million people.
The thought to that recover in an urban area – did I mention how
high tech it is – would take three days boggles the mind somewhat.
Of
course, arrangements had to be made. The Ravishing Mrs. TB ended up
taking all the human folk with her work – and after a quick bit of
thinking, all of the refrigerated and frozen things to work with her
as well (yes, we had just gone to Costco only the night before). The
bunnies were trundled off to the rabbit shelter for the duration
(bunnies really do not do well over 80 F). The Mighty Poppy is here
for the duration, as is Kiki the bird.
One
thing I always forget in a power outage is how quiet the house is
without the power. All of the little subtle noises that form the
undertone of modern life – the refrigerator and the icemaker
dumping ice, the air conditioning flickering off and on, all are
gone, leaving a sort of pregnant silence in their wake. The cry of
doves and the other outside birds and the occasional motor car are
the only things that disturb the clickety clack of my keyboard.
This
always brings to mind all the classic great lessons of course: back
up power, or at least back up storage. Do not rely on technology.
Have something you can cook with gas/fire. Check your supplies so
that when you have to use them, you know they are there.
But
oddly enough, the best quote for the day was from The Ravishing Mrs.
TB, confronted with the possibility that power would not com on until
later tonight: “The pioneers did it. We can manage for one
night.”
Monday, June 04, 2018
A Surprising Bit Of Good News
So my father encouraged my to write this post.
On Friday I had my monthly check-in with my boss: how are things going, plans for the future, etc. All went well.
At the end of the meeting, he handed me an envelope. Salary adjustment based on the size of the company and change in the reporting structure. It was a 52% raise.
You read that right. 52%.
I am, to be sure, blown away. That is approximately 1/3 again the amount I was receiving prior to July 15th, my first day. In total, this represents a 82% salary increase since I started my new position in 2016.
To say this is a game changer is trite. This means a whole lot of things- debt reduction, college, even travel - have now changed in their ability to be accomplished.
I am often complaining - and curious - if this is where God really wants me. Turns out at this time, He keeps saying yes, this is the place for now.
52%. Never in my life could I have dreamed this would occur.
On Friday I had my monthly check-in with my boss: how are things going, plans for the future, etc. All went well.
At the end of the meeting, he handed me an envelope. Salary adjustment based on the size of the company and change in the reporting structure. It was a 52% raise.
You read that right. 52%.
I am, to be sure, blown away. That is approximately 1/3 again the amount I was receiving prior to July 15th, my first day. In total, this represents a 82% salary increase since I started my new position in 2016.
To say this is a game changer is trite. This means a whole lot of things- debt reduction, college, even travel - have now changed in their ability to be accomplished.
I am often complaining - and curious - if this is where God really wants me. Turns out at this time, He keeps saying yes, this is the place for now.
52%. Never in my life could I have dreamed this would occur.
Saturday, June 02, 2018
A Few Words From...Bruce Lee
“Seriously, if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it'll spread to the rest of your life. It'll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.”
- Bruce Lee
Friday, June 01, 2018
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Realizing Disillusionment
"Disillusionment", said John MacArthur, "is the product of illusion." Find out what you are disillusioned about and you will discover what your illusions are.
This thought has been on my mind over the last week as I have contemplated and reflected. There is a certain disdain around my soul, a certain sort of quiet anger about the state of my life, which I have come to realize is due to the fact that I am disillusioned - I feel cheated of things that I somehow felt like I had been promised or led to believe were within my grasp.
As I sat down and considered it more, what I came to realize was that my illusions were in every case large things in my life: A job that was personally rewarding and deeply engaging, a position of leadership, relationships that were always full and what I desired, reaching the pinnacle of a career and then moving into a second career of my choosing in a location of my choosing. All of these things - and others - I have clung to as things that were going to happen, that were in some ways bound to happen if I worked hard enough or believed strongly enough.
But in fact, they are all illusions, false images that were created in my mind for one reason or another and came to be interpreted as things that were owed me, that had to occur - that were destined to occur. My discontent can easily become anger when I feel I am cheated out of something which I had been promised.
So I had to make a decision, last night as I rethought over these issues. I can either continue in the illusion, or completely accept that it all was an illusion and get back to perhaps what actual reality was. And reality, when I sat down and looked at it, seemed to be a great deal like various pieces of thoughts I have voiced here earlier.
Love God. Love others.Work whole heartedly at the job you have. Live your life quietly and work with your hands. Give. Love your wife and sacrifice for her - and your family. Learn to be content.
(If all of these sound a lot like the Apostle Paul, that is because he wrote all of them in the Epistles).
In other words, live quietly, humbly, and slowly fade to black.
Part of living quietly, of course, is learning to be untroubled by the world. It is accelerating the withdrawal from social media and from what media I follow. It is accepting that any one the things that I had thought would happen might happen - but if they never do that means I am no less of a person for them.
I will say that having made this decision - at least the first 24 hours - there a great sense of not striving and inner solitude. Not that any of the work of life has gone away - in fact, it seems to have increased. But having stripped myself of the illusions, I am finding that there is a greater peace. Things, situations and people cannot disappoint - because demands of them are illusions as well.
It brings to mind the concept that much of life is not how much you are able to keep, but how much you are able to surrender.
This thought has been on my mind over the last week as I have contemplated and reflected. There is a certain disdain around my soul, a certain sort of quiet anger about the state of my life, which I have come to realize is due to the fact that I am disillusioned - I feel cheated of things that I somehow felt like I had been promised or led to believe were within my grasp.
As I sat down and considered it more, what I came to realize was that my illusions were in every case large things in my life: A job that was personally rewarding and deeply engaging, a position of leadership, relationships that were always full and what I desired, reaching the pinnacle of a career and then moving into a second career of my choosing in a location of my choosing. All of these things - and others - I have clung to as things that were going to happen, that were in some ways bound to happen if I worked hard enough or believed strongly enough.
But in fact, they are all illusions, false images that were created in my mind for one reason or another and came to be interpreted as things that were owed me, that had to occur - that were destined to occur. My discontent can easily become anger when I feel I am cheated out of something which I had been promised.
So I had to make a decision, last night as I rethought over these issues. I can either continue in the illusion, or completely accept that it all was an illusion and get back to perhaps what actual reality was. And reality, when I sat down and looked at it, seemed to be a great deal like various pieces of thoughts I have voiced here earlier.
Love God. Love others.Work whole heartedly at the job you have. Live your life quietly and work with your hands. Give. Love your wife and sacrifice for her - and your family. Learn to be content.
(If all of these sound a lot like the Apostle Paul, that is because he wrote all of them in the Epistles).
In other words, live quietly, humbly, and slowly fade to black.
Part of living quietly, of course, is learning to be untroubled by the world. It is accelerating the withdrawal from social media and from what media I follow. It is accepting that any one the things that I had thought would happen might happen - but if they never do that means I am no less of a person for them.
I will say that having made this decision - at least the first 24 hours - there a great sense of not striving and inner solitude. Not that any of the work of life has gone away - in fact, it seems to have increased. But having stripped myself of the illusions, I am finding that there is a greater peace. Things, situations and people cannot disappoint - because demands of them are illusions as well.
It brings to mind the concept that much of life is not how much you are able to keep, but how much you are able to surrender.
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
The Chains Of Social Media
I have almost reached the tipping point of social media to where I simply walk away from 90% of my contacts.
I know, I know - many of you do not have the darn thing at all, or have advised me in the past to get rid of it. And to a large extent, I have tried to moderate the amount of time I spend on it - and succeeded. But one thing that has consistently remained with me is my unwillingness to "ignore" or "unfriend" people.
(To the uninitiated: "ignore" is where you no longer see their postings. "Unfriend" is where you no longer follow them at all.)
I like people. I do not want people to thing ill of me. And so I tend to keep them on my list. I try to overlook opinions I disagree with or posts I do not consider appropriate. But more and more I am finding myself highly aggravated by what I read people posting.
The problem - as people far more clever than I have posted - is that the InterWeb in general and social media in particular is not a place to make an argument or have a discussion. In many ways it has become the Western Front of World War I, where artillery shells are fired back and forth and occasionally people lead charges across no-man's land which ultimately result in nothing. It has become a vast, pock-marked landscape devoid of any life.
Oddly enough, some of the people that I hang on to are in fact not really any part of my life any more - have not been for years. In a sense this is the microcosm of the issue of social media: rediscovering relationships which one may have had years ago or for years only to find out that you have both moved significantly apart. In fact, you may very well be strangers in every sense of the word except for a relationship that has become nothing but a hollow shell.
And as I have come to understand, is this not in fact something which can ultimately limit us all? If we are only concerned with the opinions of those that no longer matter to us we are no longer self directed but directed by their will. We have become servants of that which is nothing but the greatest of all straw men, Public Opinion.
So what do to?
I have started at the only place I know: by beginning to systematically hide the posts of anyone whom I know longer have an active, on-going relationship with. It is not a lot, to be sure. But I will start with 10. And then another 10. And perhaps over time, I will begin to rediscover the power of being an individual instead of a servant to demands I can never achieve.
I know, I know - many of you do not have the darn thing at all, or have advised me in the past to get rid of it. And to a large extent, I have tried to moderate the amount of time I spend on it - and succeeded. But one thing that has consistently remained with me is my unwillingness to "ignore" or "unfriend" people.
(To the uninitiated: "ignore" is where you no longer see their postings. "Unfriend" is where you no longer follow them at all.)
I like people. I do not want people to thing ill of me. And so I tend to keep them on my list. I try to overlook opinions I disagree with or posts I do not consider appropriate. But more and more I am finding myself highly aggravated by what I read people posting.
The problem - as people far more clever than I have posted - is that the InterWeb in general and social media in particular is not a place to make an argument or have a discussion. In many ways it has become the Western Front of World War I, where artillery shells are fired back and forth and occasionally people lead charges across no-man's land which ultimately result in nothing. It has become a vast, pock-marked landscape devoid of any life.
Oddly enough, some of the people that I hang on to are in fact not really any part of my life any more - have not been for years. In a sense this is the microcosm of the issue of social media: rediscovering relationships which one may have had years ago or for years only to find out that you have both moved significantly apart. In fact, you may very well be strangers in every sense of the word except for a relationship that has become nothing but a hollow shell.
And as I have come to understand, is this not in fact something which can ultimately limit us all? If we are only concerned with the opinions of those that no longer matter to us we are no longer self directed but directed by their will. We have become servants of that which is nothing but the greatest of all straw men, Public Opinion.
So what do to?
I have started at the only place I know: by beginning to systematically hide the posts of anyone whom I know longer have an active, on-going relationship with. It is not a lot, to be sure. But I will start with 10. And then another 10. And perhaps over time, I will begin to rediscover the power of being an individual instead of a servant to demands I can never achieve.
Monday, May 28, 2018
Memorial Day 2018
A simple thank you to all those who made the ultimate sacrifice so I can sit here in front of my screen and type.
Friday, May 25, 2018
Thursday, May 24, 2018
On The Reading Of Other Blogs
One of my guilty pleasures in these days of hyper-activity is reading all of your blogs.
It usually happens around later in the evening, one of my last rituals just before I go to bed. I click over to see if I had any comments, and then start clicking through the updates since the last time I looked.
Some of my blogging friends no longer post, their last posts standing like mile markers along a lonely load. I get it - blogs require an investment of time and energy, especially if (like most of us) one is doing this as a labor of love rather than as a financial generator. But I am fortunate in that there others that post every day or every other day or every three days.
And so every evening I get to walk through other people's pastures and gardens and see parts of the country I will probably never get to and hear stories, little windows into the lives of others. Sometimes I am encouraged, sometimes I am saddened - but I am always pleased to read of the lives of others.
And there are others, of course - some that for one reason or another I follow for the sheer joy of following although they are not necessarily on my list. Sometimes these turn out to be the gems - surprising things I never though possibly and sometimes things that make me shake my head.
So thanks to all of you that stick with it, who keep putting your writing out there, launching words into the blogosphere without ever knowing where they will land or what good they will do. Take it from me - they are making an impact.
It usually happens around later in the evening, one of my last rituals just before I go to bed. I click over to see if I had any comments, and then start clicking through the updates since the last time I looked.
Some of my blogging friends no longer post, their last posts standing like mile markers along a lonely load. I get it - blogs require an investment of time and energy, especially if (like most of us) one is doing this as a labor of love rather than as a financial generator. But I am fortunate in that there others that post every day or every other day or every three days.
And so every evening I get to walk through other people's pastures and gardens and see parts of the country I will probably never get to and hear stories, little windows into the lives of others. Sometimes I am encouraged, sometimes I am saddened - but I am always pleased to read of the lives of others.
And there are others, of course - some that for one reason or another I follow for the sheer joy of following although they are not necessarily on my list. Sometimes these turn out to be the gems - surprising things I never though possibly and sometimes things that make me shake my head.
So thanks to all of you that stick with it, who keep putting your writing out there, launching words into the blogosphere without ever knowing where they will land or what good they will do. Take it from me - they are making an impact.
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Today's Lack of Post....
...is brought to you by a twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, which a local lake was cruised, a local skyline observed, half a million bats made their way skyward, and Mexican food was consumed. In keeping with this theme, I give you Bat Before The Moon by Biho Takashi (1910):
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Twenty Five Years Of Marriage
So today we celebrate 25 years of being Mr. and Mrs. TB.
I do not know that I can honestly say I had a clue what I was doing when I got married. I do not precisely think the phrase "There was no chance in the world it work" applies, but arguably the odds were reasonably against us: even at the tender age of 26 I had a fair amount of growing up left to do: I had two degrees, college debt, and no idea what in the world I was going to do with my life. I still contend that I probably had nothing particularly wonderful to offer.
We have lived through seven moves, three births, three houses, a rather varied number of careers, nine cars, and rather large collection of pets. We have lost and gained friends. We have found a number of new interests and lost a number of old ones.
Marriage, in case you do not know, is hard. It is probably by far the hardest thing I have ever tried to do. As I described it once to an unmarried friend, "It is not as if you can take your ball and go home. You are already home." And I have come to understand over the years how many marriages do in fact fall apart - I suspect in the current environment it is even more difficult because there is so much in the world that tries to drag us apart. In an age of selfish gratification, being willing to surrender your wants and desires for the sake of the other person really is an act of rebellion.
I do not really have any great advice for how to stay married, other than "Do not give up." Which seems a bit trite. After all, not giving up is not a particularly elegant thing (and it sure would not sell books). But it is that commitment to not giving up, to staying in the relationship for no other reason than you promised you would, that makes things work (e.g. listening to your "feelings" at those moments is not particularly helpful).
We will have a quiet evening tonight, going out for dinner - perhaps one that is a little nicer, perhaps - and reflecting on 25 years of life together. Not a wholly poor way to spend a milestone.
I do not know that I can honestly say I had a clue what I was doing when I got married. I do not precisely think the phrase "There was no chance in the world it work" applies, but arguably the odds were reasonably against us: even at the tender age of 26 I had a fair amount of growing up left to do: I had two degrees, college debt, and no idea what in the world I was going to do with my life. I still contend that I probably had nothing particularly wonderful to offer.
We have lived through seven moves, three births, three houses, a rather varied number of careers, nine cars, and rather large collection of pets. We have lost and gained friends. We have found a number of new interests and lost a number of old ones.
Marriage, in case you do not know, is hard. It is probably by far the hardest thing I have ever tried to do. As I described it once to an unmarried friend, "It is not as if you can take your ball and go home. You are already home." And I have come to understand over the years how many marriages do in fact fall apart - I suspect in the current environment it is even more difficult because there is so much in the world that tries to drag us apart. In an age of selfish gratification, being willing to surrender your wants and desires for the sake of the other person really is an act of rebellion.
I do not really have any great advice for how to stay married, other than "Do not give up." Which seems a bit trite. After all, not giving up is not a particularly elegant thing (and it sure would not sell books). But it is that commitment to not giving up, to staying in the relationship for no other reason than you promised you would, that makes things work (e.g. listening to your "feelings" at those moments is not particularly helpful).
We will have a quiet evening tonight, going out for dinner - perhaps one that is a little nicer, perhaps - and reflecting on 25 years of life together. Not a wholly poor way to spend a milestone.
Monday, May 21, 2018
2018 Spring Garden update
As you might remember, when we last left the garden it was fenced in but with a trio of lettuce and some garlic in place:
We had a planting event about two weeks ago - and we are growing!
Jalapeno (purchased, not from seed) has some peppers on it already!
The lettuce is putting out flowers for seed heads and the garlic is falling over:
This year's volunteer - a pumpkin, I assume:
Beans and Black Eyed Peas (and the local help):
My Painted Corn is making a promising start:
Tomato plant has some flowers already. Maybe I can get a few this year:
My two poor lime trees are trying to recover, along with some irises from Old Home that Poppy destroyed the planter on (but have come back nicely):
And finally, a mint plant I bought to go along the side of the house. For some reason things seem to grow pretty well here without too much extra watering - so I hope it does well:
So far the progress of my sectioned off garden has been so good, I am considering sectioning off other parts of the yard as well for other self contained gardens.
Friday, May 18, 2018
Thursday, May 17, 2018
On The Paring Of Activities
My days have become very focused of late.
With work eating up a great deal more time than I had anticipated, I have had to become a lot more selective and regimented about what I do and when I do it. The time I have that is not wrapped up in work or family has become precious and something which simply cannot be aimlessly wasted.
What gets packed in? Writing (of course), journaling in the morning and blogging at night. My Bible and inspirational reading, of course. Iai (practice or class) and workouts (on the days I do not have class). Icelandic, to prepare for August. Watering my garden and trying to keep tabs on the pests in it. A chapter a night and a little Japanese packed in along the side. The pup and the rabbits get some loves.
And that seems to be about it.
Oh, there is a bit more time on the weekends for some longer developed activities, like cheese or more extensive yardwork or the hint of home improvement. But frankly, right now, that seems to be about all the time there is.
I have pondered in the past what would rise as the most important activities in the event that my time became constrained. Turns out, I seem to have discovered what they are.
With work eating up a great deal more time than I had anticipated, I have had to become a lot more selective and regimented about what I do and when I do it. The time I have that is not wrapped up in work or family has become precious and something which simply cannot be aimlessly wasted.
What gets packed in? Writing (of course), journaling in the morning and blogging at night. My Bible and inspirational reading, of course. Iai (practice or class) and workouts (on the days I do not have class). Icelandic, to prepare for August. Watering my garden and trying to keep tabs on the pests in it. A chapter a night and a little Japanese packed in along the side. The pup and the rabbits get some loves.
And that seems to be about it.
Oh, there is a bit more time on the weekends for some longer developed activities, like cheese or more extensive yardwork or the hint of home improvement. But frankly, right now, that seems to be about all the time there is.
I have pondered in the past what would rise as the most important activities in the event that my time became constrained. Turns out, I seem to have discovered what they are.
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Where Is Holiness?
It strikes me that holiness is something you almost never hear anything about in church anymore.
It saddens me more than I can possibly express - not because I am fan per se of judgment, but that it (to my mind anyway) demeans the nature of God. Suddenly God is much more concerned with other things - social justice, environmentalism, _____ rights. These, we are told, are what the gospel is really about. Sin is at at best alluded to, at worst not mentioned at all. We are "saved", but from some nameless thing we cannot verbalize.
Mind you, I understand the root of the complaint. Holiness as it has been interpreted by lots of periods of time has simply become a list of things that a person should not do, sometimes without any root in Scripture. Yet holiness, we are told, is a command of God - "Be ye holy, as I am holy" (Leviticus 11:44, 1 Peter 1:15). It is a thing that we are told without which we will not see God.
But think about it: holiness was valued by the prophets, valued by the apostles, valued by Christ himself (see Matthew chapters 5-7 to get a glimpse of what Christ said holiness looks like). And yet the modern church, for the most part, seems to have turned its eyes away for the clear commands of God in the matter for other things.
Just plug in your favorite cause - "Be ye Diverse, for I am diverse; be ye environmentally friendly, as I am environmentally friendly". Oddly enough, you will not find those verses in Scripture (although it is fair to say they are discussed or implied. But holiness is commanded.
I have to ask myself: where is the cry for holiness from the church? Where are the models of holiness in her ranks? Where are the people - not saints of far away lands and times but those that live near us - that we can look to as role models of holiness?
Holiness, said one preacher, is "to think as God thinks and will as God wills." Do we true aspire to think as God thinks? Or do we think as we would like to think that God thinks, sprinkled with our own flavor of interpretation.
Every successful religious movement of the Old and New Testament, even to our day, had holiness its root. Where is the cry to discover that root in our own churches today?
Social movements and trends will fail us. Feelings will be betrayed, relationships will be broken. Only holiness has the enduring power of God in it to sustain us when the going get rough.
Where are the cries for holiness today?
It saddens me more than I can possibly express - not because I am fan per se of judgment, but that it (to my mind anyway) demeans the nature of God. Suddenly God is much more concerned with other things - social justice, environmentalism, _____ rights. These, we are told, are what the gospel is really about. Sin is at at best alluded to, at worst not mentioned at all. We are "saved", but from some nameless thing we cannot verbalize.
Mind you, I understand the root of the complaint. Holiness as it has been interpreted by lots of periods of time has simply become a list of things that a person should not do, sometimes without any root in Scripture. Yet holiness, we are told, is a command of God - "Be ye holy, as I am holy" (Leviticus 11:44, 1 Peter 1:15). It is a thing that we are told without which we will not see God.
But think about it: holiness was valued by the prophets, valued by the apostles, valued by Christ himself (see Matthew chapters 5-7 to get a glimpse of what Christ said holiness looks like). And yet the modern church, for the most part, seems to have turned its eyes away for the clear commands of God in the matter for other things.
Just plug in your favorite cause - "Be ye Diverse, for I am diverse; be ye environmentally friendly, as I am environmentally friendly". Oddly enough, you will not find those verses in Scripture (although it is fair to say they are discussed or implied. But holiness is commanded.
I have to ask myself: where is the cry for holiness from the church? Where are the models of holiness in her ranks? Where are the people - not saints of far away lands and times but those that live near us - that we can look to as role models of holiness?
Holiness, said one preacher, is "to think as God thinks and will as God wills." Do we true aspire to think as God thinks? Or do we think as we would like to think that God thinks, sprinkled with our own flavor of interpretation.
Every successful religious movement of the Old and New Testament, even to our day, had holiness its root. Where is the cry to discover that root in our own churches today?
Social movements and trends will fail us. Feelings will be betrayed, relationships will be broken. Only holiness has the enduring power of God in it to sustain us when the going get rough.
Where are the cries for holiness today?
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Monday, May 14, 2018
The New Dark Ages
Last week I noticed an article that certain schools were starting to discontinued the use of "face" clocks in their classrooms, because some of their students could only interpret digital readouts.
Sign of the times, I suppose. But then I got to thinking about the arguments that are being had in some districts about the teaching of cursive writing at all, or the use of hand written calculations or formulas instead of calculators.
Again, a minor point - one would argue that if one can write in block letters one need not write in cursive. But with the growth of typing as a medium, the same argument could be made - probably will be made - within my lifetime.
Such things are probably all within the the context of the timeline of civilization - after all, blacksmithing used to be the only way to get forged metal and leather working was the plastic manufacture of its day - but it also betrays an increasingly disturbing trend, at least to my way of thinking. We used to put skills aside for technology; now we are putting aside the basic means of the transfer of knowledge.
One of the great advances from semi-permanent to permanent societies (besides that whole "farming" thing) was the development of the ability to maintain and understand knowledge in the form of records. Suddenly a person did not have to remember everything; it could be record for posterity and recovered via reading it.
But we are moving backwards in this, it seems. Oh, not visibly - after all, digital clocks do exist and people do still write. But ask yourself: where is the growth of knowledge now? In means that are transferable without technology such as books, written records, and the like? Or in visual and written forms that are completely reliant on technology to make them possible? Which is all fine, of course - until the technology fails or is wrenched away.
In my nightmares, I see a society surrounded by knowledge but with the people unable to read or write to access it, screens of darkness with no letters on them and digital clocks that only ever show the time as blank even as the sun sinks into the evening. A people starving for knowledge that is locked away as solidly as if it was behind iron bars and concrete walls.
There is a new Dark Age coming - maybe not quite yet, but coming fast. I check the time on my hand winding, Roman numeral bearing watch. The sunset is not yet, but will be here soon.
Sign of the times, I suppose. But then I got to thinking about the arguments that are being had in some districts about the teaching of cursive writing at all, or the use of hand written calculations or formulas instead of calculators.
Again, a minor point - one would argue that if one can write in block letters one need not write in cursive. But with the growth of typing as a medium, the same argument could be made - probably will be made - within my lifetime.
Such things are probably all within the the context of the timeline of civilization - after all, blacksmithing used to be the only way to get forged metal and leather working was the plastic manufacture of its day - but it also betrays an increasingly disturbing trend, at least to my way of thinking. We used to put skills aside for technology; now we are putting aside the basic means of the transfer of knowledge.
One of the great advances from semi-permanent to permanent societies (besides that whole "farming" thing) was the development of the ability to maintain and understand knowledge in the form of records. Suddenly a person did not have to remember everything; it could be record for posterity and recovered via reading it.
But we are moving backwards in this, it seems. Oh, not visibly - after all, digital clocks do exist and people do still write. But ask yourself: where is the growth of knowledge now? In means that are transferable without technology such as books, written records, and the like? Or in visual and written forms that are completely reliant on technology to make them possible? Which is all fine, of course - until the technology fails or is wrenched away.
In my nightmares, I see a society surrounded by knowledge but with the people unable to read or write to access it, screens of darkness with no letters on them and digital clocks that only ever show the time as blank even as the sun sinks into the evening. A people starving for knowledge that is locked away as solidly as if it was behind iron bars and concrete walls.
There is a new Dark Age coming - maybe not quite yet, but coming fast. I check the time on my hand winding, Roman numeral bearing watch. The sunset is not yet, but will be here soon.
Friday, May 11, 2018
Thursday, May 10, 2018
On Success Books
So as I have often written, I have a little bit of a problem with books - in that I have a fairly large collection of them. My solution - to almost anything - is when in doubt, to buy a book. So today, when I was reading an article that recommended a book on goals and success, you can imagine what my initial reaction was.
I like books on success. I have one or two. My favorites are the ones by Jeffrey Gitomer and Seth Godin and Steven Pressfield. Reading them, I can always feel more empowered and focused.
I clicked over to Amazon, looked at the book and the reviews, did the math, and put into into my cart.
And then I stopped and thought for a moment.
The reality is, the message of all books on success and succeeding and goals is - really - the same: Get Goals. Plan. Persevere. Achieve. Essentially that is it, filled in with a little bit of stories and humor and encouraging words. But not much different than that. Because really, the nature of success is a path well worn by those before it. It is not a question of more knowledge or more power or even more books, but rather a question of simply putting in the work until you arrive at your goals.
Which in a sense, eliminates the question of buying any other book on success (except if I really like the name or cover). After all, one can only watch so many re-runs until one turns off the TV and simply goes outside and does something.
I like books on success. I have one or two. My favorites are the ones by Jeffrey Gitomer and Seth Godin and Steven Pressfield. Reading them, I can always feel more empowered and focused.
I clicked over to Amazon, looked at the book and the reviews, did the math, and put into into my cart.
And then I stopped and thought for a moment.
The reality is, the message of all books on success and succeeding and goals is - really - the same: Get Goals. Plan. Persevere. Achieve. Essentially that is it, filled in with a little bit of stories and humor and encouraging words. But not much different than that. Because really, the nature of success is a path well worn by those before it. It is not a question of more knowledge or more power or even more books, but rather a question of simply putting in the work until you arrive at your goals.
Which in a sense, eliminates the question of buying any other book on success (except if I really like the name or cover). After all, one can only watch so many re-runs until one turns off the TV and simply goes outside and does something.
Wednesday, May 09, 2018
Tuesday, May 08, 2018
Monday, May 07, 2018
On Re-Invention Of The Self
The thought occurred to me that it might be time to re-invent myself.
We all go through periods of micro reinvention. We sometimes call it "getting a new hobby" or "In A Relationship" or "Out Of A Relationship" but in each case, they involve changing something about ourselves and our presentation to the world.
On even rarer occasions we go through major reinventions, where our lives and ourselves significantly change. This is as varied as "becoming a parent" or "getting married" or "finishing school" or even something as mundane as "purchasing a house". These are more much more significant in that large portions of our lives have to shift to accommodate the new change.
But these all have one thing in common: the reinvention is almost invisible to us, brought on by events which in some measure we have chosen. The idea of consciously, out of the blue for no reason reinventing ourselves, is a much more difficult and perilous thing.
Difficult? Changes that take place in the middle of normal living can be tough to sustain. There is no precipitating event to kick them off nor a continuing event to keep them going until they are on auto-pilot. It is only the force of will that is going to keep them in place and moving forward until they become automatic.
Perilous? Change is always difficult on everyone around you when it comes, and especially when it seems to come from nowhere. Sometimes reinvention comes simply because it has to - as the title of one too many books and articles has stated, "What Got You Here Will Not Get You There". Sometimes this is self evident to everyone, but sometimes (more often than not, I am coming to believe) we are the only ones that realize it. We can try to explain it when something is noticed which is different about we are making the changes - but I wonder if someone else can truly understand a change taken for the sake of the change itself.
What would re-invention look like for me? I am not terribly certain at this point. But the one thing I do understand is that it cannot just happen on a whim. That is the sort of thing that will never sustain itself. Without a plan of what you want to change and why and how, it just becomes a disjointed exercise that does not accomplish the underlying goal: to change for the better.
But like the flashes of lightning in the clouds not so distant, change is coming. I just need to manage it rather than get washed away by the storm.
We all go through periods of micro reinvention. We sometimes call it "getting a new hobby" or "In A Relationship" or "Out Of A Relationship" but in each case, they involve changing something about ourselves and our presentation to the world.
On even rarer occasions we go through major reinventions, where our lives and ourselves significantly change. This is as varied as "becoming a parent" or "getting married" or "finishing school" or even something as mundane as "purchasing a house". These are more much more significant in that large portions of our lives have to shift to accommodate the new change.
But these all have one thing in common: the reinvention is almost invisible to us, brought on by events which in some measure we have chosen. The idea of consciously, out of the blue for no reason reinventing ourselves, is a much more difficult and perilous thing.
Difficult? Changes that take place in the middle of normal living can be tough to sustain. There is no precipitating event to kick them off nor a continuing event to keep them going until they are on auto-pilot. It is only the force of will that is going to keep them in place and moving forward until they become automatic.
Perilous? Change is always difficult on everyone around you when it comes, and especially when it seems to come from nowhere. Sometimes reinvention comes simply because it has to - as the title of one too many books and articles has stated, "What Got You Here Will Not Get You There". Sometimes this is self evident to everyone, but sometimes (more often than not, I am coming to believe) we are the only ones that realize it. We can try to explain it when something is noticed which is different about we are making the changes - but I wonder if someone else can truly understand a change taken for the sake of the change itself.
What would re-invention look like for me? I am not terribly certain at this point. But the one thing I do understand is that it cannot just happen on a whim. That is the sort of thing that will never sustain itself. Without a plan of what you want to change and why and how, it just becomes a disjointed exercise that does not accomplish the underlying goal: to change for the better.
But like the flashes of lightning in the clouds not so distant, change is coming. I just need to manage it rather than get washed away by the storm.
Friday, May 04, 2018
Article: Staying Hidden Online
I ordinarily do not post links to articles, but today I would like to commend one to your attention from Survivalblog.com: Staying Hidden Online.
Honestly, I am probably pretty late to this party. I am not, on the whole, very tech savvy and have probably managed to litter the landscape over the years with bits and pieces of me. I have been slowly trying to undo the damage in the last year or so, but the recent social climate is such that it is too much of a chance to take anymore.
The thing that managed to put me close to the edge was Amazon and their ads. All of a sudden before I knew it, things I have had to research at work starting showing up on my personal accounts as suggestions for me to be. I did not cross the streams between work and home - how did this happen? Someone was obviously working overtime to gather data on me and what I was up to.
But the thing that has put me over the edge was reading a report that FaceBook had tested an function whereby others can vote on whether or not your posting is "appropriate". Suddenly, the mob now determines what is acceptable. And if they see you there, they will start to run you down everywhere else you are on the InterWeb.
Not that they seem to make it easy, it seems. Trying using a non-common web browser and all you get is "We do not recognize this log on". Every time. The Very Large Internet Companies very much prefer you use their tools, not others.
I am sure on the whole this will not make a great deal of difference in the long run - but at least, in my own mind, I am doing what I can to prevent the commercialization and probable eventual demonization of....me.
Thursday, May 03, 2018
On The Ending Of Friendships
I wish we taught the ending of friendships as a skill.
It is awkwardly learned skill, one most of us stumble into without any sort of guidance whatsoever. Initially we all learn the same way as children: "I am not your friend" we shout and that is that. But as we grow older, we find that are making attachments that are not so nearly easy to break.
Technology, of course, has made this even more ridiculous as now things can go on for months after any real interaction has taken place. Like a snowcloud that occasionally spits snow in hopes of a blizzard, we check in and out in fits, leaving calls or messages and then waiting to see if they are responded to. If yes, the friendship must still exist; if no, then maybe things are closed down - until we get the next message out of nowhere.
I am more prone, I suppose, because at some level I feel like friendships that die (and they do) is the equivalent of abandoning someone that might need me. In my mind, I am being entire too tough or quietly waiting in the wings (For what? Some undefined emergency to come, I suppose).
But then it really happens: the responses stop all together.
I panic at first, impatiently waiting - "They are busy" or some such. Then I (inevitably) retry to make contact as if somehow the first one got missed or that a lack of response sometime in the past caused this. The cycle probably repeats two or three times until I finally admit to myself that it truly is gone.
The reality is that these are no more my fault than the other persons. It is simply that the friendship served its purpose and now, like spring wildflowers, is withering away as it distributes its seeds.
I have tried to make a virtue of such things, working on willingly surrendering without becoming panicky or concerned. I struggle a little less than before - not that it seems to hurt any less mind you, just that we make a little more progress every time.
But part of me wonders - five years, ten years - will the friendship live at all in their mind? Or is it simply another example of leaving others even as we meet, always saying goodbye every time we shake a hand.
It is awkwardly learned skill, one most of us stumble into without any sort of guidance whatsoever. Initially we all learn the same way as children: "I am not your friend" we shout and that is that. But as we grow older, we find that are making attachments that are not so nearly easy to break.
Technology, of course, has made this even more ridiculous as now things can go on for months after any real interaction has taken place. Like a snowcloud that occasionally spits snow in hopes of a blizzard, we check in and out in fits, leaving calls or messages and then waiting to see if they are responded to. If yes, the friendship must still exist; if no, then maybe things are closed down - until we get the next message out of nowhere.
I am more prone, I suppose, because at some level I feel like friendships that die (and they do) is the equivalent of abandoning someone that might need me. In my mind, I am being entire too tough or quietly waiting in the wings (For what? Some undefined emergency to come, I suppose).
But then it really happens: the responses stop all together.
I panic at first, impatiently waiting - "They are busy" or some such. Then I (inevitably) retry to make contact as if somehow the first one got missed or that a lack of response sometime in the past caused this. The cycle probably repeats two or three times until I finally admit to myself that it truly is gone.
The reality is that these are no more my fault than the other persons. It is simply that the friendship served its purpose and now, like spring wildflowers, is withering away as it distributes its seeds.
I have tried to make a virtue of such things, working on willingly surrendering without becoming panicky or concerned. I struggle a little less than before - not that it seems to hurt any less mind you, just that we make a little more progress every time.
But part of me wonders - five years, ten years - will the friendship live at all in their mind? Or is it simply another example of leaving others even as we meet, always saying goodbye every time we shake a hand.
Wednesday, May 02, 2018
The Vanishing Usefulness Of My Smart Phone
I have had my Smart Phone for approximately five years. It was a gift from The Ravishing Mrs. TB, something to get me "plugged in" to real world from the previous Flip Phone.
The Modern Smart Phone is a miracle of replacement technology. Without using any of its communication features it has successfully replaced the watch (pocket and wrist), the calculator, the music storage and playing device (a.k.a. The Walkman), the physical notepad, the camera, and the pocket flashlight (by far the most useful feature). It makes all kinds of communication, written and verbal, possible. It allows one to check in on one's children in a way my parent's generation must have only dreamed of. Add to that its functionality as a entertainment and knowledge center - literally, the world is right at your fingertips - and you have essentially poured all of the human experience into something you can hold in your hands.
And yet I am considering it to be more and more of a paperweight.
The Smart Phone has changed our behavior. We are now a people that spend most of our time with our heads downward facing our screens, a pack of hollow eyed zombies stumbling over curbs and into walls as we walk. We interact with the phone - through selfies, through conversation, through laughing at what we see - as much or more so than with actual people at this point. The world slowly becomes invisible except as viewed through a screen.
It has also changed how we respond to each other. In days past, responses were largely a result of personal interaction. Now, the omnipresence of the Smart Phone and the power of text make everything a "right now" response. If you are not responding "right now", something is obviously wrong or you are simply not paying attention. The sender has now become the most important person in the room - by not being in the room.
But for me, the question has become very much about how I actually use the phone - as a communication device. Frankly, I really do not any more. The handful of calls I make or get outside of family are either recruiters or people trying to sell me something. My texts, which originally seemed to replace the calls, are simply an extension of this as well.
In other words, I scarcely use my communication device to communicate anymore.
Will I ditch the phone immediately? Of course not. It works, it is paid for, and it does have that rather useful flashlight. But I am reaching zero initiative on getting a replacement model if and when this one perishes. I can do a lot of what the phone does on my computer. I can get an actual phone for people who actually want to call me (or text, I suppose).
I will sure miss the flashlight though.
The Modern Smart Phone is a miracle of replacement technology. Without using any of its communication features it has successfully replaced the watch (pocket and wrist), the calculator, the music storage and playing device (a.k.a. The Walkman), the physical notepad, the camera, and the pocket flashlight (by far the most useful feature). It makes all kinds of communication, written and verbal, possible. It allows one to check in on one's children in a way my parent's generation must have only dreamed of. Add to that its functionality as a entertainment and knowledge center - literally, the world is right at your fingertips - and you have essentially poured all of the human experience into something you can hold in your hands.
And yet I am considering it to be more and more of a paperweight.
The Smart Phone has changed our behavior. We are now a people that spend most of our time with our heads downward facing our screens, a pack of hollow eyed zombies stumbling over curbs and into walls as we walk. We interact with the phone - through selfies, through conversation, through laughing at what we see - as much or more so than with actual people at this point. The world slowly becomes invisible except as viewed through a screen.
It has also changed how we respond to each other. In days past, responses were largely a result of personal interaction. Now, the omnipresence of the Smart Phone and the power of text make everything a "right now" response. If you are not responding "right now", something is obviously wrong or you are simply not paying attention. The sender has now become the most important person in the room - by not being in the room.
But for me, the question has become very much about how I actually use the phone - as a communication device. Frankly, I really do not any more. The handful of calls I make or get outside of family are either recruiters or people trying to sell me something. My texts, which originally seemed to replace the calls, are simply an extension of this as well.
In other words, I scarcely use my communication device to communicate anymore.
Will I ditch the phone immediately? Of course not. It works, it is paid for, and it does have that rather useful flashlight. But I am reaching zero initiative on getting a replacement model if and when this one perishes. I can do a lot of what the phone does on my computer. I can get an actual phone for people who actually want to call me (or text, I suppose).
I will sure miss the flashlight though.
Tuesday, May 01, 2018
Asking The Work Stress Question
I will posit a question: at what point do you determine the stress level of your career is enough to make you walk away from it?
To be clear, I do not think I am quite there yet. I still enjoy my job and the people that I work with. But there is a growing sense of stress in my day to day operations. I have slowly seen my hours increase from 40 to 50 or more. Weekend work is not required at this point - but it seems more and more that such work is required in the sense that it allows you to keep up with what you needs to happen.
But if things do not significantly change for the better in the not too distant future, hard questions may start to have to be asked. It is never really the time to be without a job, of course - but as hours creep up, the average hourly wage starts to fall down. This year I found that my hourly wage actually drop 6% based on the hours I currently keep.
But the stress factor is the one that worries me the most. As it stands, I feel like I cannot afford to not check my e-mail in the evening and on weekends. I dream of work. And working a "regular" day almost feels like cutting out early.
So is there a threshold where one simply says "I am at my limit" and moves on?
To be clear, I do not think I am quite there yet. I still enjoy my job and the people that I work with. But there is a growing sense of stress in my day to day operations. I have slowly seen my hours increase from 40 to 50 or more. Weekend work is not required at this point - but it seems more and more that such work is required in the sense that it allows you to keep up with what you needs to happen.
But if things do not significantly change for the better in the not too distant future, hard questions may start to have to be asked. It is never really the time to be without a job, of course - but as hours creep up, the average hourly wage starts to fall down. This year I found that my hourly wage actually drop 6% based on the hours I currently keep.
But the stress factor is the one that worries me the most. As it stands, I feel like I cannot afford to not check my e-mail in the evening and on weekends. I dream of work. And working a "regular" day almost feels like cutting out early.
So is there a threshold where one simply says "I am at my limit" and moves on?
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