Things Fall Apart, The Center Cannot Hold

So I read a particularly grim article today which, while tinged with bias and a little anti-American sentiment, certainly brings to light the array of maladies which plague our nation (I wrestled here with using the descriptor "once-great"). The economic disasters rooted in irresponsibility which have already done so much damage may have subsided somewhat, but the undercurrent which allowed them to run so rampant in the first place is still running strong, and gearing up to do just as much damage. The hubris that allowed people to think that the money would never stop and that it was OK to make a buck at the expense of everyone else is still alive and well. I had already read a report a few weeks ago regarding skilled labor in America running out of competent replacements by 2020, but this new article goes on to expand on the statistics.
We are buying into a culture which drives the idea that everyone can get by on popularity (make sure to read "everyone" as opposed to "anyone") A surprising number of today's youth claim that their ideal job is to work as an assistant to a celebrity. No one wants to be a machinist anymore. Or an accountant. It isn't cool to be a steelworker. In a culture where it is acceptable and even praiseworthy that people behave irresponsibly and stupidly on camera, how can hard work ever be popular? The message being transmitted is, "If you want money and attention, act like a brainless moron." And people are listening. A nuanced message is hard to deliver, but a simple message is much easier to transmit; and "Stupid = Money" is a simple message, indeed. I can only pray that TV shows like "Dirty Jobs" may actually attract some interest rather than help enable a mindset that such necessary work is "gross and stupid."
We are in for a very rude awakening. I am determined to awaken as many as I can.

Get With the Program

I know it's been a long-time brewing, but I can't recall the exact point at which the American Way transformed into simply not giving a shit. In hard times, it becomes more necessary to tighten the belt and worry about #1, but it can't just end at that. It's becoming the new religion to simply not have passion, helped along all the more by the twin patron saints of stupidity and the-easy-way-out.
The price of freedom is vigilance, and not just in the arena of public safety. Vigilance to financial responsibility, vigilance to civil liberty, vigilance to citizenship and justice. Being free means having to make sacrifices and being responsible for the consequences of your actions; not the pubescent notion that to be free means not having to listen to anybody else and living on your own terms no matter what anyone else thinks.
I look ahead 20 years to the America that this behavior will create and I am not pleased. Education in America needs a PR makeover, it needs to be cool to be educated. It needs to be cool to be smart, to care. If we are to endure, it must be cool to work hard.

When Will I Use This in the Real World?

Every one of us has thought this at some point in our education; it usually corresponds to learning geometry. Sometimes history. Or diagramming a sentence. At the heart of this question is an ignorance that really asks "What good will this knowledge do me in a life without imagination?" and the same ignorance that fails to ask "How can I make use of this knowledge?" "When will I use this in the real world" is, at its heart, a statement of one's own limitations rather than a question about the value of a set of information. The applications for information are limited only by one's willingness to discover them.

But "When will I use this in the real world" also raises another issue about education: how well are students being prepared for the real world? If a person drops out of school, if a person goes on (for whatever reason) to not hold a job or apply any information learned in school, that person remains to do at least one thing: be a citizen. At the very least, persons who leave school will forever remain citizens (of at least some country). How well are we training them for that?

What does it mean to be a citizen? What does it mean to live around other people? What does it mean to be an adult? What does it mean to be a human? What does it mean to be successful?

A descriptive (versus prescriptive) account of such questions being wrestled by some of the great thinkers of history could do much good (and wouldn't really be that difficult to do). Teenage years are beset with curiosity and frustration about the human condition. Why not, then, provide these starving minds with--at the very least--the labels necessary to identify these troubles? How well can we expect our youth to solve their problems if they haven't even a word to describe the issue? At the very least, issues such as social contract and personal responsibility could serve as the foundation of a solid curriculum.

The Power of Words

How can anyone hope to overcome something for which there isn't even a word to describe?

The Sixth Nightmare

Despite what you might have heard to the contrary, greatness and happiness are mutually exclusive.

It is simple to be happy (do not misread "simple" as "easy"). To be happy is to have the faith to say "yes." To be happy is to live in the moment, in the now; to be happy is to drink in life as it happens and appreciate it at face value. The happy man says "the food I eat is good food and I am thankful for it" or "I am fortunate to have such people in my life." The happy mind thinks "I always have enough, no matter what I have." The happy man is never alone, even when he is by himself. The happy family is solid in communication and even more so in interactivity. The happy soul understands everything that is, is; that which is cannot be otherwise, regardless of whether it could have been otherwise. The Happy glisten in the light.

To be great is both complex and complicated. To be great is to have the courage to say "no." To be great is to live for the future, for the potential; to be great is to see the world as how it could be and determine to make it so. The great man says "I can think of a way to make that better" or "there are yet more challenges to be overcome." The great mind thinks "there is always a way to improve upon the world." The great man is always alone, even when in the company of other great men. The great family is--should it exist--disconnected and independently ambitious. The great soul is compelled to transform the unreal into the real, the imagined into the created. The Great do not permit themselves to be afraid of the dark.

Sleep comes well to the happy man, while the great man is kept awake by his demons. The great man is dismissed and disliked by those who do not understand; the happy man is envied and emulated by them. While is is no small feat to achieve either happiness or greatness, there are--arguably--more Happy than Great. Yet how many fewer Happy would there be if it weren't for the deeds of the Great? And how many fewer Great would there be if not for the determination that their ambitions might bring about an increase in the number of the Happy?

I am determined to become great, knowing full well what horrors I would overcome, what horrors I must also commit.

Comic Relief

I know I've already made a mention of Iron Man, but he's making another appearance thanks to The Graphic Classroom. I've been considering the idea of covering comic books in the classroom thanks to several notable titles which I feel exemplify the art form, demonstrating its vast and unique potential. Comic books hold a distinction as a truly American creation, yet for whatever reason are not widely studied or explored. There has, in the past, been a stigma associated with them--namely that they "rot your brain"--but I feel that their potential to teach and inspire is no different than such works as the Harry Potter, City of Ember, the Artemis Fowl series, etc.

I know what sorts of thoughts still exist regarding comics: "Comic books are just a cheap story set to pictures" or "Comics are all a bunch of violent pictures strung together with profanity and nudity." Yes, some comics are nothing more than these. Just like some books are nothing more than cheaply-written sex scenes and mushy drivel (this is why books by Zane or Stephanie Meyer books aren't taught as literature).

Comic books retain a distinct ability to get into a character's head in a way that has yet to be effectively translated into other mediums like books or film. Additionally, the worlds created by comics are--more or less, but not exclusively--the new myths of the 21st century.

With this in mind, I submit the following list of comics as worthy of exploration:

Civil War
Superman/Batman:Supergirl
Superman/Batman: Absolute Power
Invincible Iron Man vol. 1
Just about anything from the Fantastic Four

Words I Hate or Better Understand What You're Really Saying

The existence of words which pick out inconceivable concepts causes me some consternation. It isn't imaginary constructs like griffins and dragons that bother me, since we know that these words pick out a specific set of things which exist apart from the real world (well, most of us know that, anyhow). The words that bother me are words like "nothing," "magic," and "random."

"Nothing" is an interesting word since, unlike any other word, it is a label that becomes invalid once it is attached to any object or notion. Its meaning has spread to a variety of related uses, but it is this use in which it is assigned to pick out "the absence of stuff" which conflicts with my ideals. Aside from the lesser infraction of assigning a name to something which has no other qualities to define, I feel that the greater infraction is the false sense of complacency that such a naming creates. Having such a word tricks me into thinking that I can understand it, when the human mind is wholly incapable of understanding anything about the absence of anything as there aren't any attributes for us to examine.

"Magic" is a word I hate because at best (if it is "real") it picks out a necessarily unknowable technique and at worst (if it is fakery and illusion) it is a layered term which, at its heart, means nothing more than deception though attempts to cover it up with performance and grandeur.

I'll start with the worst case since it is vastly more frustrating, despite being simpler. The word "magic" and the act of doing magic are closely related and understanding one allow you to understand the other. Despite the simplicity of this all, the word is very clever at duping us. I feel a better term for the worst case of magic is "talent." A magic trick--or illusion--is nothing more than a technique which has been designed and rigorously rehearsed to deceive an audience. Is it "magic" when Peyton Manning throws a football between two defenders into the awaiting arms of his wide receiver? No. It is rehearsed and practiced. Is it "magic" when a surgeon delicately maneuvers to snip off an abnormal growth while avoiding the sensitive vessels around it? Nope. Somehow we expect these feats from these trained professionals, but are captivated by a man who practices repeatedly just how to shuffle a deck or pay attention to a small detail or bend his body in just the right way.

The "best" case of "magic" is an altogether different story. In this case I'm tapping into a power or source in order to perform various feats which cannot be explained. "Oh man, that guy just materialized fireballs!" The mechanism for this process is unclear. Where did the fire come from? How did I make it appear? How did I then command it to behave in the exact way I demanded? Being able to answer any question about the process would allow it to be studied as a science. But in order to remain in the realm of "magic" we have to not be able to know anything about it. And yet somehow the magician is able to perform his skills despite his necessarily not being able to understand anything about it.

Finally, "random" is one of the most misused words I can think of. The heart of the word is in a sense of disorder (but really it's more of a sense of fairness in which anything has just as much of an opportunity to occur as anything else), but it is often used to describe a conscious action which the speaker regards--for whatever reason--as either too complex for inspection or just confusing. "That was a random comment" does not mean "that comment was patternless or chaotic" but rather "I don't know why you said that." The closest thing I can think of to a truly random comment (since every word that leaves my mouth is a conscious decision at some level) is speaking in tongues, in which I just seem to turn my coherence filter to "low" and string together the most senseless string of sounds to throw anyone off my scent. "He must be speaking on tongues! No one could ever go hahablagastoppogaruugen unless they were touched by some divine presence!" If something truly had no form, no pattern to it, it would be incomprehensible to the human mind (fun fact: humans understand the world around them by breaking it down into patterns).

Your pictures folder is NOT random because you made a decision to put each and every one of those pictures in the folder!