The Sublime Roundabout

... in which we discover why I yelled at the top of my lungs last night... I consider myself to be a pretty patient individual. Most things don't get to me, and even more things I usually just laugh at. But last night I'd had enough. My son and I were having a conversation about various economic models. I really, really try hard to give my son both sides of any particular argument, hoping that he'll make up his own mind. I am very aware of my role as a father to influence his decisions and opinions. But we live in an environment where most of the voices he hears are only on one particular side. It makes it difficult to discuss things because it's just me against every other contrary view out there - some of which are (unfortunately) his teachers. See this previous post ... I guess I have become used to it, however, because of my particular interest in and views on politics. Still, sometimes things just get to me. Last night it was frustration with capitalism. Lo...

If you've followed this blog at all, I think it's clear where I come down on socio-economic issues. As I contemplate our current situation, however, I think it's time for me to again consider what I believe and why. So please bear with me as I try and express my thoughts. I will be turning 37 years old on Saturday. Maybe I'm old enough to have some solid ideas about my politics, my social understandings and leanings. But I find myself constantly revisiting what I've learned, measuring it against new experience and new data, and formulating anew what at one time had seemed so stable and so sure. While this is disconcerting at times, I find it beneficial - some real, positive insights have come to me, illuminating some previously darkened corridors of my mind. The Bill Cobabe of today is not the same Bill Cobabe as yesterday, and hopefully tomorrow will bring even greater understanding and enlightenment. To put my thoughts in context, I think it's beneficial t...

One of the things I like about the internet is the ability to access information. Some (most?) information on the internet is junk. But some of it is really fun, really informative, sometimes both, but usually frivolous. So try this: without opening any new tabs or windows, follow your internet surfing. Then, after a while, go back and look at your history. It's kind of like retracing your steps, or trying to remember how a particular conversation thread got started. Sometimes I will even do this with my own thoughts: I'll find myself thinking about apples, which makes me think about apple pie, which reminds me of cinnamon, which makes me want to know more about how cinnamon bark is processed into spice, which makes me think about the Spice Islands, which makes me think about the Dutch East Indies, which makes me think of the Jan Compagnie (VOC), which makes me think of Table Mountain, which makes me think of apartheid, which reminds me of the Xhosa, which reminds me of Nelso...

Sometimes there are things worth fighting for. Worth living for. Worth dying for. In the spirit of solidarity with those who are seeking justice in the world, with those who are looking for real, meaningful, and lasting changes to the way we as a society treat each other, and with all those who are oppressed and disenfranchised because of the global plutocracy in which we find ourselves, I offer the following: ENJOLRAS Do you hear the people sing? Singing a song of angry men? It is the music of a people Who will not be slaves again! When the beating of your heart Echoes the beating of the drums There is a life about to start When tomorrow comes! COMBEFERRE Will you join in our crusade? Who will be strong and stand with me? Beyond the barricade Is there a world you long to see? COURFEYRAC: Then join in the fight That will give you the right to be free! ALL Do you hear the people sing? Singing a song of angry men? It is the music of a peopl...

So... What is love? What is love, really? I mean, really... What is it? I have recently come to understand that there are many kinds of love, two of which I'd like to explore a bit in this post. The first looks at the loved person and notices the flaws. This person cannot tolerate the flaws thus seen, and out of a sense of love and duty and respect and a sincere desire to be helpful and loving offers gentle but insistent comments/critiques/criticisms. Regardless of the reason for the fault, and regardless of the pain inflicted on the loved person by this critique, this person loves others too much to allow such to continue. Trust and love is conditioned/extended based on the compliance and adaptation to the critique. The second looks at the loved person and notices flaws. But the second person chooses to ignore many/most of the flaws. The person loves without reservation or concern for imperfections - indeed, loves because of the imperfections. It may be difficult at ti...