My daughter is in a Philosophy class and is reading Plato's Republic right now.
Painful for me at best, I could barely get through this read in high school. Matter of fact, this may be the one book I did not read...cliffnotes...holla. She just asked for my help in getting through this work.
What to do?
Tell her NO, Mommy just can't wrap her head around the words of Plato. Pretend to listen then tell her she needs to figure it out herself? Actually try to read it with her...
We all know the correct answer here, but I just can't make myself listen to the words of this literary work...again.
Someone carefully explained The Cave to me, and I remembered, this was actually the only work I could relate to. The concept of trying to explain to others "the truth". What is the truth? The truth is your perception of your reality, but there is a reality outside of that as well.
I look inside myself and know my perception is also manipulated by history.
Truth is a world of a word.
Your truth is more reasonable because it is defined by you in terms you can understand. When Jack Nicholson screams, "You can't handle the truth" in the war crime film "A Few Good Men", he speaks the truth. We can not handle the truth. The truth is so far greater than what we know or understand. The truth makes men. The truth defines heros. The truth is a concept so expansive, even as I type it, I realize it is not even what I have believed up until this day. My truth is different from yours. There is a world of truth that is a planet I haven't traveled to...yet.
Incidents themselves are not manipulated by perception, but an objective retell is hardly possible. Action sparks feeling, feeling generates opinion, and the truth becomes "a truth", not the truth.
How you remember everything is your own truth, not THE truth. How we interpret life is our truth, not the truth.
Step outside the cave and look into the light, this is still only our truth because we defined the sun.
We can only relate to what we know, not what exists outside of our reality.
Then there's the emotional attachment to what that means.
Have you ever had a moment where you read something, or someone told you a story, and you didn't have a direct reaction to it without even thinking? A moment ever, where what you know didn't affect what you heard? What is truth, really?
Monday, September 19, 2011
Great concepts and traveling
I have finally decided where my creative drive is going to take me this week.
I have a full week off, and so many stories in my head from the past month or so, I hadn't quite decided how to get all these idea on paper. I finally decided, 3 short stories. 1 novel. All flight related.
125 pages each, a deadline, and 3 very interesting stories.
GO!
I have a full week off, and so many stories in my head from the past month or so, I hadn't quite decided how to get all these idea on paper. I finally decided, 3 short stories. 1 novel. All flight related.
125 pages each, a deadline, and 3 very interesting stories.
GO!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Travel Attire
I flew on a USAir flight from Phoenix to Denver and became acutely aware of the difference between American travelers and travelers from anywhere else in the world. Somehow we have become the lazy, sloppy tourist, turning air travel into bus travel, with our pajamas and head scarves and lack of respect for public presentation.
The people of Wal-Mart have nothing on the air travelers of our nation.
In twenty minutes I watched women in head scarves traipse through the airport chewing with their mouths full. I saw small children in pajamas, being led by adults in sweats and house slippers. It occurred to me that we have no pride.
Gone are the days of dressing up to go see family and friends on the other side of the country or the world. I actually saw a man in a suit with flip flops on. Whether you are going to a business meeting or going home from a day of business - what if your company CEO happened to be on the same flight? What if your CFO happened to be at the airport picking up his wife or mother as you bounced off of a airplane with no damn socks on?
We have taken this "comfort thing" too far.
For shame.
No offense, but I will never take anyone seriously who approaches me in a house coat and curlers in their hair. Did you really leave the house like that? What is wrong with you? With us, as a nation?
The people of Wal-Mart have nothing on the air travelers of our nation.
In twenty minutes I watched women in head scarves traipse through the airport chewing with their mouths full. I saw small children in pajamas, being led by adults in sweats and house slippers. It occurred to me that we have no pride.
Gone are the days of dressing up to go see family and friends on the other side of the country or the world. I actually saw a man in a suit with flip flops on. Whether you are going to a business meeting or going home from a day of business - what if your company CEO happened to be on the same flight? What if your CFO happened to be at the airport picking up his wife or mother as you bounced off of a airplane with no damn socks on?
We have taken this "comfort thing" too far.
For shame.
No offense, but I will never take anyone seriously who approaches me in a house coat and curlers in their hair. Did you really leave the house like that? What is wrong with you? With us, as a nation?
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Lies and their value
What do these people have in common:
Actors, lovers, kids, lawyers, corporations, and politicians.
They all lie.
The one group not on this list: Your friends.
Your true, loyal, til death do you part, friends.
Friends don't lie to you.
No matter how much it sucks, no matter what the consequence, even if it hurts your feelings - your friends will always tell you the truth.
That is their job in life.
Even when you don't want to hear it.
Your best interest is at hand and the truth is always in your best interest. Whether you know it or not, the truth allows you freedoms you don't even know are good for you.
What freedoms you wonder?
The freedom to choose based on facts...not a story, made up by someone who does not have your best interest at hand, but their own.
The freedom to live in integrity with someone who walks with you.
The freedom to believe in someone other than self.
The freedom to know the value of your own life.
"Hope is the only universal liar who never loses his reputation for veracity."
~Robert Green Ingersoll
Actors, lovers, kids, lawyers, corporations, and politicians.
They all lie.
The one group not on this list: Your friends.
Your true, loyal, til death do you part, friends.
Friends don't lie to you.
No matter how much it sucks, no matter what the consequence, even if it hurts your feelings - your friends will always tell you the truth.
That is their job in life.
Even when you don't want to hear it.
Your best interest is at hand and the truth is always in your best interest. Whether you know it or not, the truth allows you freedoms you don't even know are good for you.
What freedoms you wonder?
The freedom to choose based on facts...not a story, made up by someone who does not have your best interest at hand, but their own.
The freedom to live in integrity with someone who walks with you.
The freedom to believe in someone other than self.
The freedom to know the value of your own life.
"Hope is the only universal liar who never loses his reputation for veracity."
~Robert Green Ingersoll
Monday, August 22, 2011
Homelessness
I have been very aware of the homeless population here in Denver. For years, this issue, which seems increasingly bigger, has weighed heavily on my mind. Living near the shelter I notice the mass quantity of homeless people gathering for shelter and food in the early evening and the early morning. There is also a park nearby which seems to be a gathering place during the day for the more active homeless persons in the community. This morning, as I sat in Starbucks downtown, sipping my tall, skinny Chai, I noticed two teenagers walking past the coffee shop. They wore dirty clothes and had backpacks and bundles of stuff. All their stuff, in transit. I thought, how are kids homeless? Where are their parents? Who lets their child live on the street, with no food or good shoes? Who let them get away?
It's so hard to stay focused on helping others in need when our own plates are so full, but this is a priority. This is our future. These kids. These homeless children walking the earth with no future, are our future.
What are we gonna do about it?
It's so hard to stay focused on helping others in need when our own plates are so full, but this is a priority. This is our future. These kids. These homeless children walking the earth with no future, are our future.
What are we gonna do about it?
Saturday, August 20, 2011
High School all over again
I have always thought I would never go back to high school. What a horrible four years. I was not popular. I did not excel in anything. I was average across the board. My friends made fun of me. My mom made fun of me. I was awkward and uncomfortable. People say, this is the same memory for most kids. I beg to differ. I watch my daughter, my niece, my nephew, all their friends breeze through high school. They are popular, smart, excel not only in sports but in their social scene as well. High school, like a teen movie, appear to be the best days of their lives.
Smart, saavy, driven, exceptional young people surround me and I'm so proud and realize what a difference self confidence makes. What a difference parents, who are involved and push, make on a struggling teenager. What a difference trust and development make on a mind. What a difference activities make on the ego.
Looking at who I am now, if I could go back, knowing what I know - not to change the course of action, nor to wreak havoc on history, but simply to live life as a fan of high school, I would do it in a second.
If I had the opportunity to excel at sports, at least give it my all.
If I had the opportunity to make friends, the same friends I have now, 25 years later.
If I had the opportunity to tell someone I liked them and maybe date someone that I really had a super crush on.
If I had the opportunity to stand up for myself.
If I had the opportunity to let people get to know me, maybe run for office, maybe go to a dance, maybe take off the shy cloak for one year.
If I had the opportunity to do it all again, 4 years, full steam ahead, I would take that opportunity.
I would take those 4 years and make them something memorable, not forgettable.
I can't even imagine the future college will hold for these same kids.
And life.
And love.
Smart, saavy, driven, exceptional young people surround me and I'm so proud and realize what a difference self confidence makes. What a difference parents, who are involved and push, make on a struggling teenager. What a difference trust and development make on a mind. What a difference activities make on the ego.
Looking at who I am now, if I could go back, knowing what I know - not to change the course of action, nor to wreak havoc on history, but simply to live life as a fan of high school, I would do it in a second.
If I had the opportunity to excel at sports, at least give it my all.
If I had the opportunity to make friends, the same friends I have now, 25 years later.
If I had the opportunity to tell someone I liked them and maybe date someone that I really had a super crush on.
If I had the opportunity to stand up for myself.
If I had the opportunity to let people get to know me, maybe run for office, maybe go to a dance, maybe take off the shy cloak for one year.
If I had the opportunity to do it all again, 4 years, full steam ahead, I would take that opportunity.
I would take those 4 years and make them something memorable, not forgettable.
I can't even imagine the future college will hold for these same kids.
And life.
And love.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Fear based action
I was lucky enough to participate in a self defense class put on by TSA and the Aurora Police Academy Instructors.
Initially, I took this class because I have personal space issues and feel like things that aren't necessarily a threat, feel like a threat to me. I wanted to be more secure in tight spaces with people who sometimes are not conscious of others boundaries. I also wanted to feel more secure traveling, as I have had situations in the past where I have been accosted in foreign countries and felt helpless.
The content of the class was great. 8 hours of direction, contact and physical practice.
Then there were the stories - stories of women who have been attacked and survived. Realistic situations where injury is imminent. Fear based actualities.
Those are the things I have carried around the last few weeks. Fear of opening a hotel door, because someone may jump from the stairwell and shove me into my hotel room and attack me. The fear of being assaulted and worse case scenario, not being killed, but for me, living through it. Fear of losing control. Fear of fighting. Just plain fear.
Simultaneously, I have had some issues in my personal life which are also fear based. Not physically, but people pushing the limits of their authority or past relationship, or concept of who I am and mistaking my niceness for weakness. A far greater fear base than the physical one(s) for me.
As I weigh both sides, I realized I have to treat them the same.
I can not worry about the pending attack until it happens.
I cannot walk the universe not being me and shining my gifts on others. I will not waver because there is a foul, careless world out there.
I have lost some smiles these past few weeks because of the tension in the air. I have questioned the good I seek and do. I almost forgot the impact I have on others.
Today, I take that back.
Initially, I took this class because I have personal space issues and feel like things that aren't necessarily a threat, feel like a threat to me. I wanted to be more secure in tight spaces with people who sometimes are not conscious of others boundaries. I also wanted to feel more secure traveling, as I have had situations in the past where I have been accosted in foreign countries and felt helpless.
The content of the class was great. 8 hours of direction, contact and physical practice.
Then there were the stories - stories of women who have been attacked and survived. Realistic situations where injury is imminent. Fear based actualities.
Those are the things I have carried around the last few weeks. Fear of opening a hotel door, because someone may jump from the stairwell and shove me into my hotel room and attack me. The fear of being assaulted and worse case scenario, not being killed, but for me, living through it. Fear of losing control. Fear of fighting. Just plain fear.
Simultaneously, I have had some issues in my personal life which are also fear based. Not physically, but people pushing the limits of their authority or past relationship, or concept of who I am and mistaking my niceness for weakness. A far greater fear base than the physical one(s) for me.
As I weigh both sides, I realized I have to treat them the same.
I can not worry about the pending attack until it happens.
I cannot walk the universe not being me and shining my gifts on others. I will not waver because there is a foul, careless world out there.
I have lost some smiles these past few weeks because of the tension in the air. I have questioned the good I seek and do. I almost forgot the impact I have on others.
Today, I take that back.
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