Walking my human
September 21, 2005
On my walk the other day I came across a little dog walking its elderly keeper. I don’t know what kind of dog, but it was one of those squat, broad-shouldered, pug-nosed canines that give the impression of a lot of strength in a small package. The leash to its human was connected to one of those doggie-harnesses designed to allow maximum thrust.
On the upper end of the leash was a poor guy looking very like one who was quite tired of being pulled around by this little black dynamo. I could name him, but I mercifully won’t.
As we exchanged a few pleasantries, me with a relaxed smile and he somewhat breathlessly, I wondered to myself whether he had ever considered a nasty choke collar. I didn’t speculate about the thoughts of the pooch, but there was a smile on its face, the creature.
Dave, thinking perhaps justice was being served.
Tomorrow’s readers
September 19, 2005
Thanks to Larry at http://www.silphium.net/blog/ for finding this article: OpinionJournal - Taste
Home-schooling, both Christian and secular, is clearly taking a larger and larger bite from public education. Without getting into what motivates parents to make such a major commitment to schooling their children, I believe that moulding the reading habits of a significant portion of the new generation may turn out to be home-schooling’s greatest benefit.
When it comes to their history books, conservative home-schoolers hunger for tales of great men and are suspicious of books written in the era of political correctness. And liberals like old histories for their utopian, premodern feel, when nature had yet to be despoiled. These preferences reach a confluence in the works of two authors who are both smashingly successful with home-schoolers: Laura Ingalls Wilder and G.A. Henty.
The thought of children “hungering” for such books is tremendously gratifying. The article goes on to speculate about what this may mean.
Though there is plenty of crossover, Wilder and Henty appeal to slightly different crowds. Liberals and secularists may be wary of Henty’s God-talk and manlier-than-thou chivalry, while the most religious Christians would consider Wilder insufficiently pious. But what’s more interesting is what these two authors–and their readerships–have in common: a preference for long books, often parts of a series, consumed with a leisure that public-school curricula don’t allow; an emphasis on narratives, which children like, divorced from contemporary politics, which surely can wait; and a powerful sense that children are major players in the world, the kind of people, perhaps, who deserve better than large classrooms and who may grow up more likely to write books than to be told which ones to read.
I’ll try to remember this when I start feeling that the world is going to hell in a hand-basket.
Dave, rooting for home-schoolers of all stripes.
Who, me happy?
September 18, 2005
This article on the Policy magazine web site is sort of interesting. The author is Johan Norberg, who works at the Timbro think-tank in Stockholm. The article’s presupposition is that happiness is the greatest good.
Free societies provide the conditions for happiness
For centuries, philosophers and poets have tried to understand what happiness is, and what might contribute to it. In recent decades, scientists have started to come up with the answers. Happiness is electrical activity in the left front part of the brain, and it comes from getting married, getting friends, getting rich, and avoiding communism.
Even if you accept Norberg’s assumption about happiness, his conclusions are arguable. For instance,
There is a consensus now that money does buy happiness. Low-income countries report low levels of happiness, middle-income countries report middle levels and high-income countries report high levels.
Consensus among whom? How is happiness measured in economic terms? These questions and others are not addressed in this rather sloppy article. He also seems unaware that brain-chemistry happiness may not be the most important measure of our well-being.
Let me just suggest here that there is a very important distinction to be made between happiness and contentment, between fickle feelings and deep joy. The first is largely dependent upon our external circumstances; the latter on how we view the world and its Maker, and this world-view is what really determines our sense of well-being.
The above is also arguable, of course, but if Norberg can get by with a half-baked argument, so can I.
Dave, wondering if his premise might need some further development.
Galatians 3:19-22
September 18, 2005
3:19 Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the descendant to whom the promise had been made. It was administered through angels by an intermediary. 3:20 Now an intermediary is not for one party alone, but God is one. 3:21 Is the law therefore opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 3:22 But the scripture imprisoned everything and everyone under sin so that the promise could be given–because of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ–to those who believe.
What is the place of the Mosaic law (Ten Commandments) in God’s plan for humanity? The Apostle Paul’s complete answer can be found in his letter to the Romans, culminating in the seventh chapter, but here he cuts to the chase and states the essential points.
1. The Law is a mirror in which we can see ourselves and our shortcomings. The Bible is clear that no one is able to perfectly measure up to those commandments. We are all, without exception, sinners.
2. The Law points to the promise that believers will be saved from the ultimate effects of that sinfulness.
You, dear reader, will see this either as foolishness or truth, according to your own understanding of yourself and of God. Either way, Soli Deo Gloria.
Dave
Hurricane hangover
September 17, 2005
Seeking a cure for the hurricane hangover | Economist.com
The Economist weighs in on the President’s speech and his role in managing the aftermath of Katrina.
Perhaps most notably, much of what Mr Bush said implied a bigger federal government. He declared that the federal ability to take charge of the situation on the ground in a disaster should be expanded. Moreover, he proposes to spend a pile of money on reconstruction, and to give tax breaks for job creation, home ownership and other worthy goals. He did say that locals would have as much say as possible in the rebuilding of the Gulf coast. But over $60 billion has already been allocated from the federal treasury, and tax breaks and the like will cost more still. “I as president am responsible for the problem and the solution,” he said.
Unfolding before our eyes is a demonstration of how Big Government and Mother Nature interact. Katrina is now as much a political event as it is humanitarian and rebuilding. Fascinating. I think.
Dave, not at all sure that this is a Good Thing.
Does it hurt?
September 17, 2005
The York Street leg of my daily walk is lined with majestic Maples and Sycamores, whose arching branches provide deep shade from curb to curb. These old guys are starting to succumb to the tree version of “the old man’s best friend,” pneumonia, and there are gaps showing here and there in the leafy ranks.
Quincy’s crews are out in force these days, lopping off limbs that threaten utility lines, picking up limbs that Mother Nature has pruned, and feeding them into the maw of a giant shredder. On York Street as I strolled by, they were topping off one of those old Maples before they reduced it to fire wood. The limbs being cut off looked healthy enough and were in full green leaf, but I have no doubt that there was cancer within that huge trunk. Tomorrow there will be another gap in the ranks.
I listened for words of pain and protest from that old tree, but this time heard nothing. Maybe they administered tree-anesthesia so he would feel no pain. I know I felt a twinge of pain at the sight of that old feller being dismantled, limb by limb. Ouch!
Dave, watching and listening.
You Talkin’ to Me?
September 16, 2005
Every now and then I run across an article that makes me feel like a Neanderthal man, like this
article from today’s Wall Street Journal. It’s about people and cellphones, subjects of great mystery to me.
I’ve owned a cellphone for six years. I have used it about six times, so I’m not exactly in the mainstream of cellphone users. I know that I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I’m still trying to figure out why an otherwise sane person would want to be tethered to everyone else by a telephone.
I seem to live in a world where everyone is talking all the time. Even on my neighborhood walk, one-sided conversations float through the air. Here is a guy sitting on his porch talking loudly to his cellphone. Over there is a repairman, leaning against the side of his truck, talking away. Look at that car weaving its way along, the driver holding a cellphone in one hand and emphasizing her points with the other. (Who’s driving?)
Maybe one good thing about all this talking is that the words will be lost forever. Historians researching the age of sail have written records of all kinds to mine, from personal correspondence to admiralty records. Civil War, same thing. Letters and records. World War II also left behind a rich trail of written correspondence.
When historians of the future research our lives, what will they find? Much of our communications are digital in nature, and I wonder how many of those bits and bytes will survive.
Dave, not too unhappy if his words don’t survive
Feeling my age
September 15, 2005
It’s a quandary. Since I can no longer call myself middle-aged but bridle a bit at being called old, I have a problem. This body that has housed my mind for so many years has started playing tricks on me. (My mind may have its own problems, but that’s another issue.)
For instance, take the routine matter of bounding out of bed in the morning. Now it’s more like easing a stiff bod over the edge, slowly rising to see how my sense of balance is cooperating today and then hobbling-shuffling off to the bathroom. My quandary is trying to decide whether this is part of the normal aging process or the symptom of some dark medical disaster looming over me. Don’t say, “Ask your doctor.” All I get is an enigmatic smile; I don’t know what you get.
I’m sorry, dear reader. I know you are yawning and saying, “so what?”. All I can say is that your turn is coming.
Put another way, how much of this crap does one simply have to put up with?
Now that I have posed this epic question to the all-knowing blogosphere, I will sit back and await your wisdom.
Dave, sometimes hurting here and there.
Can this be true?
September 12, 2005
I haven’t been paying much attention to the Ground Zero Memorial shenanigans, but then I came across this in The Guardian Watchblog.
The memorial at Ground Zero in New York, thanks to the tireless efforts of the anti-war crowd, is scheduled to feature a place called the “International Freedom Center.” As they enter the 9/11 site, visitors will be “informed” about slavery, Native American issues, the KKK, Nazi genocide and Soviet gulags before being introduced to 9/11 in the context of Abu Ghraib and Gitmo. In the Pennsylvania field where UA Flight 93 went down, a semi-circle of red maples — forming the Red Crescent that is the most recognisable international symbol of Islam — will frame the crash site. The design is called “the Crescent of Embrace.” One site will become a forum for casting blame on America for the victims of 9/11, the other a paean to their true murderers. Can you imagine a tribute to Holocaust victims dedicated to defending Hitler, or a Pearl Harbor memorial featuring the Japanese Empire’s excuse for mounting a sneak attack?
So just how do I parse this information? Is this just conservative spin, or is the memorial really heading out to left field? My first reaction is one of utter disbelief! How by any stretch of the imagination can the surprise attack on the Twin Towers be linked to slavery 150 years ago, or to the KKK? By what warped logic was 9/11 justified in any way? Someone enlighten me, please. And then explain it to the families of those killed.
If the information in the article is basically correct, it is very hard not to come to the conclusion that we as a nation are in danger of being royally gulled, and that if not stopped we will have allowed the creation of a monumental slap in the face to all Americans.
Dave, who still can’t believe it!
Galatians 3:15-18
September 11, 2005
3:15 Brothers and sisters, I offer an example from everyday life: when a covenant has been ratified, even though it is only a human contract, no one can set it aside or add anything to it. 3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. Scripture does not say, “and to the descendants,” referring to many, but “and to your descendant,” referring to one, who is Christ. 3:17 What I am saying is this: the law that came four hundred thirty years later does not cancel a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to invalidate the promise. 3:18 For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise, but God graciously gave it to Abraham through the promise.
Paul appeals to the civil law of their day. A covenant (legal contract) once written cannot be just ignored, or at least not without penalty. Since God made a covenant with Abraham some 400 years before the Ten Commandments were given to the Israelites, it is fallacious to believe that God somehow modified his original promise, which was to send a Son to save the whole world, Jew and Gentile alike.
Dave -sdg-
