Running To Stand Still

Today I had a lunch appointment with a colleague and went to a bank first to get some cash. As I walked out of the bank and ran up to meet with my lunch partner, I realized that most of my adult life seems to consist of running from one meeting to another of whatever sort (personal, professional or otherwise), giving little time or thought to the meaning of the experience or even to my feelings about the experience. Even less time is spent telling the other party what the experience meant or felt.

So…I had a great time at lunch today. Thank you!

Men At War

Rosalind: “I’d rather keep it as a beautiful memory – tucked away in my heart.”
Amory: “Yes, women can do that – but not men. I’d remember always, not the beauty of it while it lasted, but just the bitterness, the long bitterness.”

This Side of Paradise by F.Scott Fitzgerald, Scribner’s, New York, 1998 8th printing - page 181.

If men could learn to transcend this we might have fewer struggles.

The Ministry Of Information

“If we could only learn to look on evil as evil, whether it is clothed in filth or monotony or magnificence.”

This Side of Paradise by F.Scott Fitzgerald, Scribner’s, New York, 1998 8th printing - page 144.

Do you hear that Fox News?

In Our Time

“He thought how much easier patriotism had been to a homogenous race…”

This Side of Paradise by F.Scott Fitzgerald, Scribner’s, New York, 1998, 8th printing - page 139.

Perhaps a clue (from a writer who saw some of thebefore and aftermath of the First World War) as to how to end certain conflicts in our own time…Put aside your land and tribe. Let us own each other’s culture.

Awakenings

“…and when Amory crept shivering into bed it was with his mind aglow with ideas and a sense of shock that someone else had discovered the path he might have followed.”

This Side of Paradise by F.Scott Fitzgerald, Scribner's, New York, 1998 8th printing - page 119.

And so another man stuck in adolescence grows up…

The Becoming

“It was always the becoming he dreamed of, never the being.”

This Side of Paradise by F.Scott Fitzgerald, Scribner's, New York, 1998 8th printing - page 24.

This is a trap of adolescence. A trap because many of us bring this attitude into adulthood and are constantly searching instead of living. Some can make great art out of this search but most just dream away their lives.

Harm

Violence is a subject that intrigues and troubles me just about every day. Maybe it's because I'm a father and read the newspaper every day. This is probably no surprise to anyone who reads this blog (all three of you).

I’m still really torn on the issue of using violence. So, how about an examination of both sides, however superficial it might be.

Firstly, the use of violence:

Violence may not always be unreasonable; but in order to formulate a reasonable response to atrocities we should try to figure out what is going on first and that includes understanding the other guy's side. Violence may indeed be an answer once we have ascertained the five w’s. The old saying, "to defeat your enemy you must first know him" applies here. For example, going to Afghanistan and bombing the heck out of the Taliban and hunting down bin Laden probably was a reasonable response after the events of Sept. 11. Going to Iraq was not.

Secondly, the use of non-violence:

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. But whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

I have used here only examples from the New Testament because it is the book I am most familiar with but I could have easily used the Old Testament, Qu’ran or Buddhist texts to come to similar sayings. And I believe that the writings on compassion, love and responsibility far outweigh the writings on calls to violent action in these very same books. Amen.

Share The Blame

During an argument recently, an American Christian fundamentalist said to me, “If you haven't noticed the entire world is vehemently arrayed against Jesus in everything it says and does.”

I wonder why then her own vehemence seems to be only directed at Muslims. Why is there no rage against evil, greedy marketing folk or corrupt papists or atheists or scientists…all of whom have done arguably worse to Christianity than Islam…

Lots Of Zeroes

In 1997 the CIA's budget was $26.6 billion dollars.

In 1996/97 the federal portion of total expenditure for elementary school education in the US was $22.2 billion dollars.