There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.Leonard Cohen

August 2012

  • The Impudence of Ignorance

    I was reading Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot and had reached a place when I thought I ought to give up the book when I came upon the phrase, the impudence of ignorance, words used to describe a character. I perked up. I’d just been listening to some commentary about Representative Akin’s statements on rape and abortion. A perfect fit! Thing is the phrase applies to more than this one incident, it applies to statements made by many in ads or in promoting a given point of view about the deficit, Medicare or taxes. To what appears to be an increasing number of our fellow citizens, positions are not born from facts, they are faith based. With due respect to their freedom of both speech and religion, a faith based position may make sense within a given context but is still based on faith rather than on fact. What evokes one to think of the impudence of ignorance when hearing these statements is that not only do they not acknowledge the role of faith, they also ignore facts. If there is a divergence between faith and facts, shouldn’t the issue of reconciling the two be the responsibility of those who make the statements? Since that’s not likely to be, the responsibility falls on the rest of us to indeed make sure we know the facts. At the risk of sounding cute, I’d suggest that would be a good way to turn impudence into impotence.

  • New Kind of Olympiad?

    The Olympics are over yet still fresh enough for us to be reflective. It’s impossible not to be impressed by the feats one witnessed, by the records that were set, by the achievements of the human body doing things that weren’t thought possible. Each time a record is set, the bar is that much higher, and the challenge that much keener for the next group of athletes. A Los Angeles Times op-ed by Chris Berdik cites research that there may come a time when the human body will have reached its limits and no more records will be set. He suggests that regardless, he for one, will still want to watch the games. I suggest that that will be the time to begin setting new kind of rules, games even. The Olympics highlight physical prowess, but what of our emotional stamina, our psychological endurance, our practice of higher values, our inner essence whether or not we think of it as spiritual. Being human is more than our physical manifestation, it is also our ability to link our inner and outer selves, our capacity for cooperation, self forgetfulness, our needs to go beyond our ego, our capability to include the abstract aspects of who we are. Couldn’t there be games that include a way showing how these can and do prevail, a way to better represent what it means to be human?

  • Ann Romney, Horses and MS

    Why shouldn’t Ann Romney own horses, ride them and enjoy them. Like people of her economic status she can afford them and has the right to choose how to spend her money. For that matter why can’t presidential candidates have money. John Kerry, John McCain, George Bush all had access to wealth. Those are not the issues in my view. What makes me think twice about the Romney wealth is attitude. If they acknowledged the privileges their wealth gives them all the while remembering those who don’t, or can’t, have them, I, along with many, would feel differently. If Ann Romney were to say, I was lucky to be able to have horses to help me deal with my MS, and I wish more MS sufferers could have such access, we would understand. If she acknowledged that there are other ways for MS sufferers to engage in strengthening their muscles, hiking for example, and that she was fortunate to find a sport like dressage that she enjoys so much, we would think, oh this lady has an understanding mind. Instead she says things like she did recently reminding the person who was interviewing her that she and her family have the right to live their lives. We are then left wondering in what other ways she would have a me versus them attitude.

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