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.