Tag: Break time

When Humility Fails

I set-out to consider the state of the Earth as I perceived it. What I wound up doing was thinking about the distress the planet must undoubtedly be in; ultimately, leading to a session of mind-bashing directed towards those that refuse and/or refute Climate Change. Firstly, regard that I don’t pretend to know the scientific data; I solely rely on the reports of scientists as well as some sort of internal, connecting thread of humanity that hazily alerts me that something is wrong. That is hardly proof of the theory of Climate Change and yet I always wind-up disparaging the other side. And since I am entirely too lazy to deep dive into the science and breakdown the numbers and long scientific words, I figured I’d make an attempt at empathy.

After a good 20 minutes of consideration – mixed with the occasional Sudoku forays… I’m a multi-tasker – I came to a conclusion that was both empathic and sympathetic. Perhaps, they have just been failed by humility! Humbleness is almost never wrong. It is immediately an admirable condition based solely on its opposition to arrogance, while also acting as a connection to your fellow person, freeing oneself from the belief of supremacy. Humility helps people join together over our flaws, while giving our fragile egos a rest. Of course, humans can ruin anything…even humility. So, I wondered if Humility in practice could eventually lead you to a sense of comforting helplessness. It’s kind of how if you’ve tripped or slipped and fell in front of a bunch of people (your day is coming if this has yet to happen to you) and instead of getting up right away you just sit there on the basement floor of your embarrassment. Perhaps, those deniers just see the world and the universe beyond their control. How could our actions impact the heavens and the pulse of a planet? Of course, there are political considerations, components of religiosity and a myriad of other factors tethered to this founding concept, but it remains both simple and digestible just like humankind’s best truisms. I cannot disprove this theory either, but I can present a new perspective.

What if our galaxy constituted a living God? Moreover, what if the Sun was its heart and the rest of the planets its organs? And everything else in the galaxy made-up all the many processes, and items within a living form. Perhaps, the Earth could be the brain or some other vital component. If this thought experiment were somehow true, what would one person on Earth be? I would argue that each person is a cell. At that point, if all these premises can be imagined, I would ask how important is a cell? Sure, a cell can die off to no consequence, but it can also choose itself over the organism. The result of that decision would be cancer. And in a world where even humility can fail, I would rather err on the side of caution.

I Blame Fractions

​As rioters from the Cult of Trump ravaged one of the emblems of American Democracy, I realized something.  Just beneath the abraded veneer on the final layer of civility and decorous political discourse in this country, I discovered something that goes beyond the causes of this violent travesty at the Capitol.  People were quick to blame a demagogue that is beyond irresponsible or a demographic of people that are undereducated, filled to the brim with resentment and armed with both presumed and unconscious white privilege, but, although those are factors, I think there’s more to it.  I believe the true culprit is math; specifically, the fraction.

​Just like the foundations of a building, the foundation of a society must be constructed to hold the weight of posterity.  Our country was founded with the cement of liberty and rule of law, but, unfortunately, it was reinforced with the rebar of racism, classism and anti-intellectualism.  The founding class of this country had difficulty reconciling all the different kinds of freedoms that would result from gaining sovereignty.  Consequently, that group chose their own personal freedom and let everyone else work it out for themselves.  As a consequence, the political and military leaders were led into a higher stratum where they were surrounded by the wealthy merchant class that jockeyed at their feet for position.  It was in those conditions that the 3/5 Compromise was born.  The 3/5 Compromise was an agreement between representatives of the Northern and Southern states in 1787 that determined that each slave was worth 3/5 of a white man.  One might wonder, since the forefathers had already achieved the heights of hypocrisy by ignoring the slavery issue during and after a war for independence and freedom, why on Earth would they care about assigning a slave an official value?  The answer is that the North wanted tax revenue and a national partnership while the South wanted census-based representation and a dominance in the agriculture trade aided by slave labor.  This compromise was negotiated by the political class even though they knew it to be untenable as a long-term solution.  The founding class didn’t level with the farmers and agricultural merchants of the South; therefore, the South went about building a culture and an economy on the unsound, immoral foundation of slavery.

It all began with that fraction. It laid the groundwork for the harmful American approach of not leveling with folks…well certain folks. It would seem some folks have a tougher time dealing with the reality outside of the status quo or maybe they’ve just never been given the opportunity. After the Civil War, the South quickly began to collapse, accelerated by the bursting of the agribusiness bubble (profit margins change when you have to PAY your workers). Consequently, Southern culture resorted to counterfactuals and began to cling to the “majesty” of antebellum South along with all its accoutrements – like the Confederate flag. And still the political class couldn’t level with them about the importance of moving on and progress or even the facts of changed circumstances. It’s much easier to let people live in their reality than to take on the the task of helping people work through the stages of grief; moreover, why not make a buck or gain position by telling people only what they want to hear (or do both like Fox News). Nevertheless, it all started with 3/5; it’s just as I always said to every math teacher I’ve ever had, “Fractions Suck!!!”