Weight (Feb. 23)

Each situation in life that you find yourself in has a particular weight to it. Perhaps what you are more familiar with is the term seriousness of a particular situation. While this does seem to be more clear one must also contend with the fact that even the most playful and humorous situation has a particular weight to it and some people tend to change the weight of a particular situation at a moments notice. It takes a keen sense to be able to guide the weight of a particular situation but is a skill that more people in the world need to learn, or to at least be able to judge the situation to know what the weight is without being able to guide the weight. Too many people play weight as if they are drunk without judgement or accurate perception. No matter what is going on around you, it is important to be aware of the weight of the situation.

Doing (Feb.22)

You will inevitably spend your entire life doing something. What you choose to do is entirely up to you and a lack of choice is in and of itself a choice. The tough part is making a decision on what you should be doing in an instnace when you have multiple options of what you could be doing. It is also frustrating when you miss out on an opportunity of what you want to be doing knowing that you cannot be doing just that. So what are you doing? What choice do you need to make? Will this make you come alive in what you are doing or will it slowly take the life out of you? Now those decisions seem way more important than they once were. Not to put any pressure on you but the simple choices of what you are going to do ultimately make the difference in life.

Treatment (Feb. 21)

Parents will always treat their kids like thier kids. There is nothing really wrong with this when they are kids but they should remember that kids do grow up to become adults and when that happens it is not always approprite to treat their children like a kid. There is a great deal of respect in treating people their age no matter how they act. Even in an instance where someone is treating you beneath your age it is still not appropriate or respectful to treat that person the way that they are treating you. This type of treatment of others is not always easy to do but it does make a difference in the long run. The simple truth in all of this comes to the way you treat others without concern of the way that others treat you, even in moments of frustration.

Happenings (Feb. 20)

How often do you look at the world around you and really take in what is going on? How often do you realize that your current state of energy dictates the manner in which you act? How often do you see the accidents of others and make informed decisions to not suffer the same fate? By means of observation of the happenings around you and your own reactions you may have some semblance of wisdom by which to live live and thus create new happenings. The fool to his own demise seems to be the one who pays no attention to the happenings of life where the one who is wise takes keen interest in the happenings. The best part of happenings in general is that they often offer a choice, a choice by which the next outcome is seemingly changed. Of course the best happenings are the ones by which you can laugh and be merry, but then this is only an observation of self.

Free (Feb. 19)

Economists might have you believe that there is no such thing as a free lunch. To a certain extent they are absolutely correct in that someone, somewhere along the way in the process pays for the cost of the good or service provided. However, does free in terms of cost really apply beyond the individual? You would have to believe that indeed does, however the cost of something for someone else is not something that the individual processes. The only thing the individual processes is the cost to that particular individual. No perhaps the individual has a conscious and would rather not take the free offer because of the reality that it is costing something to another individual. The reality though is that to that individual it is still free. By saying that there is no such thing as a free lunch is to assume that it is necessary for individuals to think with morals. So, by the principle of free, economists intend to impart so universal notion of moral truth.

Truth (Feb. 18)

Recently Allstate Insurance has been running a television commercial where they use clips of people from the past and the present to recreate a speach of FDR. It is the speach most famous for saying the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Interestingly enough it starts out by talking about truth and speaking truth. I doubt you will find anyone who disagrees with the reality of speaking truth but in our current relativistic society truth has been given a meaning far from what it actually is. Truth is not a matter of perspective and there can be nothing true that contradicts other truth. By definition something cannot be both true and not true. Simply put there is nothing relativistic about truth despite what our current society might have us believe. There are arguments out there that take truth in form of religion and morals and say that this kind of truth is relativistic but in reality, this cannot be true for the very reason that truth is not contradictory to any other truth. Perhaps what is more important about FDR's speach and what might actually change the world today is if we as a world sought truth as truth and then only spoke truth.

Competition (Feb. 17)

There are moments in life when you need to have a spirit of competition. There is some innate sense by which everyone knows this to be true. Every kids that doesn't want to share knows this to be true. Competition in and of itself is not a bad thing but there are moments when competition is nothing but a sentence of anger and frustration in the midst of a setting that should not have those things. The trick then is to figure out what moments in life are okay to have that bit of competition and what moments in life should not be about the competition but about something else, something more personal and more concerned with people. If one allows competition to drive them they may achieve greater things but to do it at the cost of relationships makes for a sad and lonely person.

Boredom (Feb.16)

There is a state of the body at which point you are so bored you really do not even think or care to do the basic things. It is a dangerous state to be in because on the one hand you aren't doing the things that you should be doing and at the same time if you are doing anything, you probably shouldn't be doing it. The other interesting feature that surrounds this state of boredom is the reality that you are likely to be all alone at the time you reach this state. Also, it seems to come in the moments when you are as stuck in a particular routine. Perhaps that is why it is a state where you want to do absolutely nothing, because doing something would be no different than doing nothing. The cure may be hard to find but the reality is that it is impossible to live in this state when you are filled with joy. True joy is hard to find and sometime hard to hold on to but it is the cure to boredom.

Friends (Feb. 15)

There are times in life when things just aren't right for one reason or another and in those moments it is important for one to be around friends. The struggles of life are hard and there are moments that you are going to watn to cry, even if you think you are too manly to cry. It is going to happen and that is a promise. Times will get dark and you may just want to crawl into a hole but to do that would only make things worse. There are going to be moments when you want to punch a hole in the wall because you are so filled with frustration, whether you physically could accomplish that or not there are times that you are going to want to do that. In the midst of it all there are people that want to be there and will be their barring physical hinderance. It doesn't matter that you are at your low point, they still want to see you, flaws and all and they are the people that just by being there, not saying a word, make things seem at least a little bit better. Anyone is a good friend when times are tough but not everyone can be there when times are tough. Hold on to the good friends and never let them go.

Expert (Feb. 14)

There are many smart people in the world all of which have a particlar field in which they are an expert. An English teacher likely has good command of the English language where a farmer might not. Try and hold a plat growing competition and the farmer will likely do much better. Part of what makes each person an expert deals with their experience. And yet still it is likely that there is someone else in the world that is more of an expert than you are even in your most advanced field of study. Their are figures like Plato and Einstien that we might consider to be the top of the field but that has not prevented others from scrutinizing their work. Too many people in the world talk as if they are experts on more than they really are and it usually relates to the notion of applying personal knowledge outside of the bounds of that knowledge. An electrical engineer may have some idea of how mechanical engineering works but if you needed a mechanical engineer you probably wouldn't call an electrical engineer first.

Peace (Feb. 13)

It seems that since the begining of time the world has been at odds with itself. See we find ourselves in a situation where there are multiple ideologies and religions most of which seem to be in some kind of conflict with eachother. And of course if they aren't in conflict on the theoretical level there is a history there for some reason or another that causes fighting to take place. Now there is a great hope for peace, and several people that have created another ideology by which we are just supposed to drop our current ideologies or simply ignore the inherant conflict that exists. Unfortunately they have really only succeeded in creating one more differing ideology in the world and thus adding to the conflict. If you want to see peace, you cannot ignore the truth, you cannot expect people to just drop what the believe, you cannot focus on the end goal and take the quickest route there. Simply put, peace is a process, a process that shows glimpses at events like The Olympics and The World Cup. There you hold on to your beliefs and compete on equal footing with the rest of the world and where the outcome is not life or death (in most cases).

Society (Feb. 12)

When a bunch of people live together in the same general area we tend to call it a society. Some societies are destined to fail while others have something in particular about them that seem to make them thrive. There are been many failures throughout history, some that failed because of other more advanced societies and some that failed simply from the lack of making a decision to change things for the better for one reason or another. The interest that this thought is taking has to deal more with the fact that there are laws for society both written and unwritten that seem to cause the process by which one will judge failure. Obviously written laws are written down and then enforced through various forms of law. But what about those unwritten laws of behavior and other like things. They seem to have just as great of an impact on society as a whole. And what would be the result where those unwritten laws come into conflict with the written laws. See the written laws will only work to the extent that they are enforced and only opinion will change with the unwritten laws. Yet it seems that the unwritten laws may have more of an affect on society in the long run since society is made up of people with opinions.

Tolerance (Feb. 11)

I read an article today on some Yahoo page talking about the six personality traits that everyone should develop. One of the six was tolerance but like most people the author fails to define tolerance in the right way. Unfortunately this is a common problem in the world today. See, the entire world wants tolerance to mean that we should just accept what someone else believes as truth without any second thought. What this really is called is acceptance, but becuase acceptance has a complete lack of virtue in that it ignores truth, it is not a virtue. Tolerance on the other hand is really not acceptance, but lovingly pointing out fault while gently correcting in a loving manner. A parent will tolerate the behavior of a child but correct them so as not to make the same mistake again, even if they take a picture of the funny situation for the scrapbook. Tolerance understands turth and seeks it out, thus making it a virtue. In the article mentioned, it talks about tolerance on a small local level, a level in which acceptance may be a good thing. I just wish people would get their terms right. Click here to read the article.

Sarcasm (Feb. 10)

In the midst of a serious conversation it is always interesting to drop one of those one liners with a serious face that makes you think WHAT??? The funny thing about it all is that there is usually a little nugget of truth that should be taken to heart along with the mix of sarcasm that you have just been dowsed with. Sure it makes it tough to try and figure out what you should really do if you are asking for advice, but hey maybe your problems aren't the most pressing needs in the world. Does that mean that you are not cared for, by no means, in fact it probably means that you are loved more than your realize. So before you go jump off of that cliff, like you were told to do, take a second to think about how much fun it might actually be to jump off the cliff, at least as long as you have a parachute or belay line attached to you.

Interview (Feb. 9)

The problems that the world faces today is incredibly challenging with a jobless rate reminicent of one of the darkest days in the history of this country. The funny part about it all takes to the interview experience where the fate of certain individuals is determined. You dress up real nice and look as good as you possibly can. You come with a piece of paper that talks about how great you are and then you spend anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour talking about how great you are and why this position is best suited for you. With so many people out there looking for work and the reality that you will be applying for more than one position, how is it possible to be the right fit for so many different positions? The funny thing is that it is true that previous experience makes one ready for so many more positions, more than even might seem possible. The specifics seem to be more important today than ever before but the reality is that they should be less important than ever before. What an interesting process.

Snow (Feb. 8)

Have you ever taken the time to just watch the snow fall? It does not fall like rain which find terminal velocity before hitting the ground, and it is not like hail that tends to melt away soon after reaching the ground. Snow takes its time to meander through the air being pushed in all different directions as it falls. It floats around taking the air currents as they come even gaining altitude at times. It resembles the sail on a ship being carried by the breeze and using it to its own advantage. Eventually when the snow does reach the ground or its initial resting place high in a tree, it stacks in a unique way remaining separate and soft. Even when packed together with its flake friends it remains unique. But even as it rests it remains in a place where its destination could be changed but a simple gust of wind. There is something truly amazing about snow, so peaceful and so wonderous to watch but I cannot help but think that it seems to resemble the way life could be.

Smart (Feb. 7)

If you had to come up with a definition of the word smart, at some point you will be forced into drawing a comparison with others. Simply knowing a lot of information is not in and of itself the definition of being smart as it really is a comparison to how much other information others know. It flows right from there into a comparison with wisdom which is really living your life in a smart way. Some people may live a life in a particular way, but it is only in comparison to others that you could call their life smart. It seems that striving to be smart is therefore a very selfish endeavor, which seems to some extent to be exactly the opposite of smart. In a sense, smart is just something that has to happen, it is not something that you strive for.

Gravity (Feb. 6)

We have sent rockets to the moon and beyond. We have created long tubes of metal with wings that fly when jet engines are attached. For some time humans have known of this phenomenon called gravity which prevents us from floating away into space and yet we have tried incredible hard to deny the reality of gravity. It is the kid that wants so hard to fly before they realize that inevitably they will fall back to earth, no matter how high they jump. For all the ways in which we try to defy gravity the reality is that there are many more ways that we use gravity for our benefit and pleasure. In much the same way one is left to wonder because of this if there is not something greater to be gleened from this. Often times we talk about having our heads in the clouds and yet the reality is that gravity will pull us back to where we are supposed to be. It is not to say that we shouldn't strive for greatness in the likes of rockets and air planes, but it is to say that we should work looking at the clouds with hope knowing that gravity has us where we are for a good reason.

Excitement (Feb. 5)

There are moments in life that we look forward to for long periods of time before they actually happen. We think of the promises of what are to come and the potential of even greater things. It all creates a pleasing aroma of excitement by which one uses to get through the drab parts of the stressful day. Sure there is the possibility that things will not live up to expectations, which inevitably causes disappointment. So with both of the possible outcomes in hand, which would you rather live your life with? It seems that living life with great anticipation leading to great excitement is the proper way to live life, no matter how unproper one becomes with excitement. There is a innatue desire to be filled with excitment in anticipation, a design of life that seems to be one of those things that just makes sense. Those who live in fear of disappointment are not the fun people to be around.

Technology (Feb. 4)

It amazes me to think back to when I was a child and to remember the technology that was big at the time. I remember listening to vinyls and thinking that a tape players was prety big. The day that wireless phones became something to have was another one of those big days. And today in an effort to make life easier, what have we done. iPhones that travel anywhere and play music and movies with a million different apps to do who knows what. The funny thing is that it seems that life has not become less complicated with technology but more complicated. More complicated, more complex, more frustrating, more of everything we were trying to do away with when these new technologies were being researched. For as nice as everything is and as much as I wonder what I would do without some of these great technologies there is still something deep inside that begs for the times of the past when things were easier and simpler.

Commit (Feb. 3)

As a fan of college football, today, signing day, is a very interesting day. More interestingly though it brings up the issue of commitment. See the reality is that there are certain people who make up their mind and then have to re make up their mind later, often changing the decision. To make a decision is much different than making a commitment. On the one hand you can decide to do something but that does not necessarily mean that you won't change your mind. When you commit to something there is something different about that, something most high school football players apparently do not understand. When you commit to something you have already taken that first step in the decision making it entirely impossible to change to course of what you are going to do. Take cliff jumping for instance. You can decide to jump off the high jump but after climbing up there and seeing how high it is, it is often that some will want to turn around and climb down. The reality is that it is safer to jump than to climb back down. The safest way to jump is to commit and give it all you have. It is the hesitant jumper who puts himself in the most danger of hurting themselves. So, honor the commitment and give it everything you have.

Security (Feb. 2)

Having been a witness to this latest financial crisis and seeing how the general population of our country has responded, one thing is explicitly clear, we value security. We work hard to put ourselves in a place where we are in control and do not have to worry should something happen. It is called security becuase we feel that if we just have enough then we won't have to worry and inevitably something does happen, just look at the financial crisis we are in. So many of use got to a point where we were comfortable with what we had and then in a flash it was gone. It has driven us to work even harder and save up even more money. But what happens next time? Will what we have placed our security in be enough? I think the question that we often forget to ask is, "What if life is supposed to be lived in such a way that security is not our concern?" See, whatever we place our security in here on earth will inevitably fail or fall short. But what is we all lived life without concern for our security?

Testing (Feb. 1)

Around the world of education it is impossible to get yourself away from the dreaded test. In classes you are tested to see how much of the information you know. Then you eventually reach what is called higher education and the first thing you need to do to get in is take a standardized test to see how you stack up against everyone else. It seems that the world is overly concerned about how you stack up against the rest of the world and needing to put everyone in their proper place. Tests are really just one more tool by which we allow the world to judge us. Does it really make sense to participate in this matter? Probably not but there is really no way around testing. Some will tell you that it is simply a measure of what you know but in a class you are ultimately given a class rating and on standardized tests you are ultimately compared to the other applicants. The funny thing about it all is that as soon as you forget the information for a particular test, the rest of the world forgets how well you did on the test.