Tag Archives: Reason

Negativity is Positively Not in Your Best Interest

Cancer, Health and Wellness, , , , , , , , , ,

I had a few other titles for this post sliding around in my brain. After getting up and down to move the cat out of my daughter’s bedroom a few times, this is the only one that had stuck, so I’m going to go with it in spite of the cheesy wordplay. Partly, that is because it is also an accurate summation of my perspective.

Today is November 7th, 2014. It’s a Friday. And it is a good day.

Yesterday, after three-odd months of waiting and questions and test after test, I finally received a diagnosis from  my doctor regarding why I haven’t been feeling precisely top-drawer recently. It turns out that, in general terms, I have Stage 4 Lung Cancer. More specifically, I have Adenocarcinoma, which is a non-small cell form of lung cancer, and it has spread from the 3 odd centimeter mass in my left lung to a few lymph nodes and eventually down to my hip bone. And I am so thankful to have this diagnosis. Not because I am pleased to “have cancer,” which would be kind of perverse, but because now I know what I am dealing with and I can get on with it.
Continue reading Negativity is Positively Not in Your Best Interest →

Cheap Wisdom: Not Worth Anything.

Health and Wellness, Politics, Reason, , , , , , , ,

I love Yogi tea, and that can be an actual endorsement. It is good tea. But their little tags with “wise” little quotes can be ludicrous.  Take the one I encountered this morning: “True understanding can only be found through compassion.” Really? So you can only encounter something by first engaging with itself? Or what? When you

Cheap wisdom on the label of a tea bag
More meaninglessness from America’s most trusted source of wisdom.

realize that compassion MEANS the attempt to understand, not only does it become clear that the quote lacks any substance whatsoever, but that it is also backwards. And this is indicative of cheap wisdom, the intent of which is never to actually encourage thought, but rather to encourage passive acceptance. It  becomes insidious when applied toward broader social aims, and is a tactic routinely used in politics as well as commercial advertising. Continue reading Cheap Wisdom: Not Worth Anything. →

The neglect & trivialization of violence against women is horribly wrong

Fear, Health and Wellness, Reason, , , , , , ,

Native American Women are disproportionately victimized without justice. This is horribly wrong. Domestic issues of victimization through forced prostitution are swept under the rug, with the prostituted frequently being punished when they are often the true victims. Often discussed dispassionately as a “global problem” with the thought that this sort of thing happens only in underdeveloped or backward nations, it is truly happening in every country and in virtually everyone’s backyard. Hyperbolic? Not particularly; it just depends how you define “backyard.” For the sake of this position, I will broaden it to mean “local community,” and challenge you, dear Reader, to find a community in the United States that does not have at least one instance of violence against women. Continue reading The neglect & trivialization of violence against women is horribly wrong →

Delays Are Bad For Everybody

Fear, Health and Wellness, Politics, Reason, , , ,

By now everyone who is not a complete media hermit knows about the tragic events of yesterday at Sandy Hook. When it takes the murder of 20 elementary school children for politicians to declare that now is the time to work on serious gun control laws, it is a sad statement indeed. The truth is, the time to start would have been any time before this. Now is already too little, too late.

Postponing the opportunity to do the right thing is an unfortunate part of business as usual in Washington DC. Delays of important changes are the norm in all aspects of politics, because money is inevitably involved. And sometimes the delays are just plain due to basic human evils of greed or power. But it does not take much to see that inaction is not merely wrong, but is itself a willful action of its own to maintain an outmoded status quo.

The issues of the Sandy Hook massacre do not end with gun control. This is a mental health issue as well, one which should equally invigorate the push for greater universal access and improved social services, which have for decades been fought against and delayed, delayed, delayed.

This is not a mere issue of procrastination, which is bad enough. But extrapolating the wisdom of “not putting off until tomorrow what you can do today” brings this down to the personal level and hopefully will make everyone realize that there is no escaping our collective culpability. We all had a hand in the death of those children by our very lack of action. Look in the mirror and realize this: if you have not made your voice heard and taken action to prevent this sort of thing, then your lack of action is part of the reason those children are dead. Putting off calling your congressman is a deliberate force in making these things likely to happen again. Not voting against politicians who fail to actively fight to bar automatic weapons or expand social programs is an actionable offense that you are culpable for.

These are black and white issues. We all have levels of guilt here. Do not delay on making things right until tomorrow.

Over-Thinking Is a Bad Practice (But a Fine Profession)

Reason, , , , , , ,

There is a keen difference between having an analytical mind and a compulsory need to indulge in interpreting every detail of every event (or non-event) that one comes across. Too much effort spent on discovering the hidden nuance in a tossed-off phrase quickly gets in the way of understanding the moment. Treating life’s every-day occurrences as mini-conspiracies that must be revealed in full can cause the sort of mind-trap that prohibits an individual from being able to revel in the beautiful mysteries that life is actually throwing at us every moment. Sometimes, being able to let go of the need to “know” everything can actually open up a world of understanding, awareness and appreciation.

And then there are people like R. Salvador Reyes. An accomplished poet, he has spent some time on the observation of the minutiae. When I first encountered his fragile, emerging prose nearly thirty years ago, it was apparent that he was interested in deeper themes and unseen details. Continue reading Over-Thinking Is a Bad Practice (But a Fine Profession) →

Email is ruinous

Politics, Reason, , , , , , , , ,
Stationary stationery, also known as immobile note paper. Now if only there was one of those writing sticks handy.
Stationary stationery, also known as immobile note paper. Now if only there was one of those writing sticks handy.

The United States Postal Service is a national treasure. A beacon of efficiency, the USPS has historically been the best and least expensive way to send correspondence or small packages. Now, however, it is being threatened with huge cuts. Some in the government have questioned its relevance in the 21st Century. But our postal system may actually be more relevant now than ever before.

The Art of Communication has faltered in the age of email and Twitter. People have gotten lazier and lazier in the name of character efficiency to the point where a limited number of characters has drained the character right out of typical tweets. Continue reading Email is ruinous →

Panic: Very Unhealthy

Fear, Politics, Reason, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Fear mongering, as you should know by now, is one of the top ways that people or corporations get you to buy. This is true politically as well as economically, so it is always worth reminding ourselves that panic is a reaction that circumvents intellect. Sometimes it is certainly warranted, but (hopefully) not often. So, when being approached with an idea or a product that is presented from a fear-based perspective, always think twice and look closely.

Here is an interesting example that I came across online: Survival Joe’s Newsletter. It even comes with one of those handy newfangled barcode links for those of you who have a free smartphone in your hand as you read this.jbfy1-survivalj-qrcode-MEDIUM

Continue reading Panic: Very Unhealthy →

Apathy is Supremely Bad. For Everyone.

Fear, Politics, Reason, , , , , , , ,

Invisible Children | Kony2012.

If you are not aware of who Joseph Kony is, you should be. He is the embodiment of evil in a part of the world that is too often ignored by the rest of us and the fact that he has been allowed to carry on his reign of terror for well over 20 years is a testament to the power of apathy. Continue reading Apathy is Supremely Bad. For Everyone. →

Loaded Marketing Blog Posts, Just Plain Dangerous

Health and Wellness, Reason, , , , , , , , ,

Key Word Filler

It’s a glaring bit of reality that most – AND I DO MEAN MOST – blogs on this InterWeb Highway exist only to direct you to links intended to help their owners profit somehow. I’m not quite sure what makes the technology tick on these things, but when I am researching one topic or another for valid reasons entirely my own, I am disproportionately directed to web sites that make no sense whatsoever. These are “robo-sites” that have been culled by a computer program in order to appear original, or compiled by some worker in a far-off land who may or may not have an actual grasp of the language in which the web page is “written.”

You might even see a random list of keywords inserted for no obvious reason. Here is one such list, carefully designed for potential links. Continue reading Loaded Marketing Blog Posts, Just Plain Dangerous →

Nutritional Claims: Don’t Believe the Hype

Health and Wellness, Reason, , , , , , , , ,

When a product claims to be “A good source of calcium!” – beware. Chances are that this is a smokescreen to get you to purchase an unhealthy product.

Seriously, suggesting that Product X is a good source of calcium is akin to stating that gin is a good source of water. Certainly, drinking 16 ounces of gin could be one way of getting a “serving” of water toward your daily quota. But is it the best way? Making gin your sole source of water would have disastrous consequences, at least for your liver. Probably also for your relationships and career, but that is another issue altogether.

A list of other candidates for a “good source” of water would necessarily include espresso, which is also a diuretic. This is the same sort of logic that many mega-brand corporate “food” packagers appear to follow Continue reading Nutritional Claims: Don’t Believe the Hype →