Category: philosophy

Blurbsday: Diction

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Maybe it is my age (nearly 34 – getting up there, I know).  Perhaps it is my ethnic background (I happen to be of the ruling minority – white males).  Maybe I’m a bit stuffy or stuck up (I try to be a tolerant individual), but no matter what, “Where you at?” will never be a phrase that I can picture leaving my mouth.  It is simply the epitome of improper grammar.  You don’t need to be an English scholar to find the faults, but it lacks any form of verb and ends with a preposition (last I checked those are big no-nos of basic sentence structure).

So when I got asked the previosuly noted question by a co-worker over the phone, the only thing the kept me from hanging my head and sighing was the fact that I was attempting to park my car at the time.  Upon pointing out the fault and answering the implied question, snickering from my passenger elicitsa follow-up of “Who you with?”

Day by day I make progress.  Meanwhile my 5-year-old daughter is fluidly integrating words like apparently, conveniently, and recently into her vocabulary.  So I have some points of solace.

Blurbsday: Religion

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This is a topic that I could easily write a lot about.  But I’m attempting to keep myself in check.  People seek answers in religion.  But all I’ve found were more questions.  Here are a few:

Christianity:  If the path to heaven is through faith alone and our actions play no part, then why do our lifestyle choices make any difference?  And if the path to salvation is only through Jesus Christ, then what chance did the dozens of generations before him have?

Judaism:  Does it make sense that God would create a world where only people born into certain families or who worship him a certain way deserve his love and redemption?

Islam:  Ditto.

Mormonism & Scientology:  Ditto, but with hints at a lot of other questions.

Buddhism:  You’re cool.

Atheism:  I kind of agree your stance, but do you have to be so dickish about it?

I’m sure that some of this will piss people off, and I’m sorry for that – to an extent, I’m being glib.  But also not.  Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, but I have trouble personally putting stock in any set of beliefs that minimizes any other group as less worthy of blessing, whether it be women, homosexuals, gentiles, non-believers, prostitutes, politicians, etc.  I also have trouble with a belief system that cannot embrace reason and science as integral rather than contrary.  We are all people, all born naked and alone in this world, all prone to falter, to fail, to fall.  If there IS a God at all, and if he cares whether we succeed, then wouldn’t he want us to succeed together?  But I guess that kind of questioning sets me apart from the crowd.

Sorry – this was more than a blurb.  I tried.

Blurbsday: Balance

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Intro:  Thursdays I will try to write something brief – I call it Blurbsday (that’s all I’ll say about that).

Life is about balance.  Imagine life as a see-saw:  one end is the past, one end is the future, the middle is the present.  If you sit at either end, you won’t get anywhere without the help of outside forces.  If you sit in the middle, you can find balance – but only if you remain mindful of the ends of the board.  One end or the other is bound to sway you.  You need to learn to sway with it to keep things in balance.  And no matter how hard you try, we all run out of board – make the most of your time on it.