Waging War
You’ve reached the internet device of T-H-E G-R-E-Y-P-A-R-T-Y and MEH.
I am on the battlefield and sorry that I am unavailable to answer your call.
I’ll be back carrying my shield, or being carried on it.
Please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as I’ve washed all the blood off.
Most of it won’t be mine.
BEEEEEEEP!
Wisdom From Good Will Hunting
Will: My father was an alcoholic. Mean f__kin’ drunk. Used to come home hammered, looking to whale on someone. So I had to provoke him, so he wouldn’t go after my mother and little brother. Interesting nights were when he wore his rings… He used to just put a belt, a stick, and a wrench on the kitchen table and say, “Choose.”
Sean: Well, I gotta go with the belt there.
Will: I used to go with the wrench.
Sean: Why?
Will: Cause f__k him, that’ why.
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This scene has come up repeatedly today in conversation and for some reason it feels completely fitting for this time of the year.
- Tax time during an economic crisis
- Seniors figuring out whether they will pull it together to graduate
- Major life transitions happening for many
- People returning to church/religion/repentance
- Christ responding to evil/sin/Death
People have their reasons to fight back against the prevailing insanity around them, in unpredictable ways, ways they didn’t think they had in them, until something more important, something that truly matters, raises its head.
But I could be crazy for such a comparison. Wouldn’t be the first time.
Sitting With Kevin
sitting with kevin
and now
i am reminded
there is a reason
we never tell
physicians
the full truth
the first time
despite the smile
& warm hands
regardless of
the consequences
there is too much
history to cover
in five, mostly
silent minutes.
~MEH
The Golden Rule Is Crap (a Facebook Debate)
My former co-worker posted a note about the Golden Rule. I replied. What follows is the debate/discussion which ensued.
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“Treat others like you want to be treated” has been espoused by parents, schools, and churches for centuries, if not millenia, as the moral ground to which we must aspire in order to be kind and caring human beings. While this platitude is almost universally accepted as the path to personal fulfillment and world peace, I tell you here and now, in front of God Almighty and anybody else who cares to read my occasional Facebook rant , that it is, in fact, a steaming pile of crap. And here is why…
Exactly what kind of monster egomaniac would I have to be in order to believe that every other human on this planet wants to be treated the same way I do? Have I actually attained God’s ideal state of human perfection to such a degree that all of humanity should imitate my particular wants and needs?
I, like most teachers, see 120 to 150 kids a day. Some of them need a warm, fuzzy hug, and we should give them that when appropriate. Some of them need a swift kick in the ass, and we should give them that, too. Some need someone to listen to them, and some need to be told to shut the hell up and sit down and listen to us. Some need a friend, some need a parent, and some just need a little space and to be left alone for ten minutes of peace and quiet away from everything and everyone who thinks they’re trying to “help” them through a difficult time. But whatever they need, I absolutely freakin’ guarantee that it’s not the same for every one of them, and nine times out of ten, it’s not the same thing I would need in a similar situation.
Now, the very fact that I’ve got the stones to post something so contrary to that which has been accepted as self-evident for hundreds of years indicates that I am, in fact, an egomaniac of legendary proportions (this is not news to anyone who has spoken to me for over ten minutes). But even my mania has not yet aspired to such heights as to make me believe that how I want to be treated in a given situation is how everyone else should/would want to be treated. And yet, it seems to be commonly accepted “wisdom” that this is the case among almost everyone else I know. I just don’t get it. How is it, that in the name of empathy for fellow man, we are admonished to ignore his needs and substitute our own?
Here’s a better version: “Treat others as they want to be treated.”
Here endeth my two cents’….(Subsequent replies in comments)
Snow In Seattle
Mandy and I are in Seattle, a world where snow is a scary, scary thing. So we will be here for Christmas. Here are some shots.
Yeah. Not that impressive.