It's not that I disagree with all of the military's goals. I think you're missing the point if you start questioning my motives with accusations of masochism. I just don't believe in collateral damage as a legitimate part of any solution.
What bothers me most is when the goal isn't necessary. At that point the collateral damage becomes more outrageous. One other thing is when the damage was foreseen. A general in his high thrown sees the solution but also sees the villagers who won't make it and goes through with the operation anyways. I feel like I have to oppose this decision on principle, even if I benefit from the action.
More than anything I feel like existence itself is an experiment with a good goal but too much collateral damage and I find myself fundamentally opposed.
Showing posts with label Rants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rants. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Expectations
I tend to keep my goals to myself. I tend to think of it this way: I have 4 possible outcomes.
1.) If I tell people about one of my goals and do not accomplish it I disappoint not only myself, but also the people who were looking forward to the outcome.
2.) If I tell people about one of my goals and accomplish it I am happy and they are excited as well (hopefully) about the outcome.
3.) If I don't tell people about one of my goals and I do not accomplish it I am disappointed but no one else is.
4.) If I don't tell people about one of my goals and I do accomplish it I am happy and people are surprised and happy to find out.
Those are the four options the way I see it. Now I've been told that sometimes having other people aware of your goals will help motivate you, but I have found that this isn't very strongly the case with me. Now you know why I'm hesitant to freely share my future plans and/or goals. Feel free to debate the logic of my 4 scenarios in the comments below.
1.) If I tell people about one of my goals and do not accomplish it I disappoint not only myself, but also the people who were looking forward to the outcome.
2.) If I tell people about one of my goals and accomplish it I am happy and they are excited as well (hopefully) about the outcome.
3.) If I don't tell people about one of my goals and I do not accomplish it I am disappointed but no one else is.
4.) If I don't tell people about one of my goals and I do accomplish it I am happy and people are surprised and happy to find out.
Those are the four options the way I see it. Now I've been told that sometimes having other people aware of your goals will help motivate you, but I have found that this isn't very strongly the case with me. Now you know why I'm hesitant to freely share my future plans and/or goals. Feel free to debate the logic of my 4 scenarios in the comments below.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Reason versus Passion
I don't want to go into the "Reason vs Faith" argument because it takes too long and I don't have the motivation to type that much. I do, however, wish to share my thoughts on a different matter of balance.
I can't say that this discord between passion and reason is a perfect scale, nor that it applies to everyone. There are many who are passionate and reasonable and many more who are dispassionate and unreasonable. I have noticed, however, that there is a very vocal (if not large) group of people who seem to be lacking in reason and having an overabundance of passion. I'd rather not get into the politics or specifics in this setting.
On the opposite spectrum, I think that the more reasonable one can be, the easier it is to lose passion. With reasoning comes the realization that things are not black and white, and nothing can cut at people's motivation like gray areas.
I think that what makes true leaders and world-changers are those who manage to keep their passions without losing reason.
I can't say that this discord between passion and reason is a perfect scale, nor that it applies to everyone. There are many who are passionate and reasonable and many more who are dispassionate and unreasonable. I have noticed, however, that there is a very vocal (if not large) group of people who seem to be lacking in reason and having an overabundance of passion. I'd rather not get into the politics or specifics in this setting.
On the opposite spectrum, I think that the more reasonable one can be, the easier it is to lose passion. With reasoning comes the realization that things are not black and white, and nothing can cut at people's motivation like gray areas.
I think that what makes true leaders and world-changers are those who manage to keep their passions without losing reason.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
To the elves who are stealing my clothes:
I like your sense of style. The buffalo plaid flannel with a black vest, cotton trousers, my carhartt and the skinny scarf is a good look. Well done.
Monday, December 8, 2008
I am the Grinch.
I think I might be the Grinch. I was at home this Thanksgiving and had a lot of time scanning the local radio stations and I noticed that every time I came across a Christmas song I skipped right over it. I'll try and run through some of the reasons that I am not yet (for an unforeseen period of time) in "the Christmas mood."
1. Consumerism. I'm a hypocrite when it comes to this, but seeing consumerism makes me sick to my stomach. Did you know that someone was trampled to death during the Black Friday opening at a Wal-Mart in Long Island this year? If you don't get why the rest of the world hates the Western powers and especially America, take a long, hard, objective look at consumerism and things should start to clear up a little. And what is the big granddaddy day of America's need for more stuff? Christmas. I think Jesus might feel a little sick to his stomach too.
2. Lies to children. I know, you're expecting me to talk about Santa. I'm not; at least not in this paragraph. Here is the lie that you (parents) tell your kids: "Christmas is about giving, not receiving." And what do we do to reinforce this idea? We give the brats a boatload of toys on Christmas Day and then buy a tie for Dad and put a label on it that says "To Dad, Love [Insert Children's names here]" What did the kids do? They put a ribbon on it, maybe. You may say that Christmas is about giving, but when you shower gifts on them all they hear is "Christmas is about giving TO YOU!"
3. Christ. I wish I knew how the originators of Christmas celebrated it. All I know is that Martin Luther invented the Tannenbaum by trying to light a pine tree on fire, or something like that. I know that my parents have always had us sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and then read some verses from the book of Matthew, but that's the most I've heard of Christ getting into Christmas. Some people use the whole "but it's a great time to tell people about Christ!" argument. As if all the other times weren't good enough. Sure, it's a great time to talk about Christ, but do you? And no, your Church's Christmas Special where the pastor tells the gospel story doesn't count.
4. Gifts. If you haven't seen the Advent Conspiracy video, you should: www.adventconspiracy.org. They claim that the total cost for giving the WORLD clean water is about 10 billion dollars. (In fact there are estimations between 9-30 billion, so let's say 30 just to avoid confusion) Compare that to the 450+ billion dollars in "holiday spending" by Americans alone (http://www.nrf.com/content/default.asp?folder=press/release2006&file=holidayforecast0906.htm). I don't know about you, but that statistic leaves a bitter taste in my mouth when I try and take a swig of eggnog. And what are those gifts that we Americans buy with our collective $450 billion? Plasma screen TV's and the latest iPods of course. I think maybe there should be a tax on the word "need" because it seems to me that the people who use it the most are the people who have no idea what it truly means. I think I might have accidentally made two paragraphs about consumerism, but just in case you didn't get the point the first time around, hopefully this helped.
5. Saint Nicholas. If I need to explain why Saint Nicholas might be offended by his modern day counterpart then you should research what "Saint" means.
I'll try and post another blog entry about why I DO like Christmas soon, but right now I'm just not in the mood.
1. Consumerism. I'm a hypocrite when it comes to this, but seeing consumerism makes me sick to my stomach. Did you know that someone was trampled to death during the Black Friday opening at a Wal-Mart in Long Island this year? If you don't get why the rest of the world hates the Western powers and especially America, take a long, hard, objective look at consumerism and things should start to clear up a little. And what is the big granddaddy day of America's need for more stuff? Christmas. I think Jesus might feel a little sick to his stomach too.
2. Lies to children. I know, you're expecting me to talk about Santa. I'm not; at least not in this paragraph. Here is the lie that you (parents) tell your kids: "Christmas is about giving, not receiving." And what do we do to reinforce this idea? We give the brats a boatload of toys on Christmas Day and then buy a tie for Dad and put a label on it that says "To Dad, Love [Insert Children's names here]" What did the kids do? They put a ribbon on it, maybe. You may say that Christmas is about giving, but when you shower gifts on them all they hear is "Christmas is about giving TO YOU!"
3. Christ. I wish I knew how the originators of Christmas celebrated it. All I know is that Martin Luther invented the Tannenbaum by trying to light a pine tree on fire, or something like that. I know that my parents have always had us sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and then read some verses from the book of Matthew, but that's the most I've heard of Christ getting into Christmas. Some people use the whole "but it's a great time to tell people about Christ!" argument. As if all the other times weren't good enough. Sure, it's a great time to talk about Christ, but do you? And no, your Church's Christmas Special where the pastor tells the gospel story doesn't count.
4. Gifts. If you haven't seen the Advent Conspiracy video, you should: www.adventconspiracy.org. They claim that the total cost for giving the WORLD clean water is about 10 billion dollars. (In fact there are estimations between 9-30 billion, so let's say 30 just to avoid confusion) Compare that to the 450+ billion dollars in "holiday spending" by Americans alone (http://www.nrf.com/content/default.asp?folder=press/release2006&file=holidayforecast0906.htm). I don't know about you, but that statistic leaves a bitter taste in my mouth when I try and take a swig of eggnog. And what are those gifts that we Americans buy with our collective $450 billion? Plasma screen TV's and the latest iPods of course. I think maybe there should be a tax on the word "need" because it seems to me that the people who use it the most are the people who have no idea what it truly means. I think I might have accidentally made two paragraphs about consumerism, but just in case you didn't get the point the first time around, hopefully this helped.
5. Saint Nicholas. If I need to explain why Saint Nicholas might be offended by his modern day counterpart then you should research what "Saint" means.
I'll try and post another blog entry about why I DO like Christmas soon, but right now I'm just not in the mood.
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