Another Sweet Post About Ignorance…

Something that kind of bugs me is that people on every side of an issue tend to gravitate away from the truth in any argument. People come up with an idea (or they were brought up the idea or acquired it in some other means) and try to support it by any means necessary. This is in opposition to a person that actually seeks the truth–a person who carefully examines the evidence and then makes a decision; a person who is able to admit when their theory has been disproved; a person that can decide on their own without relying on popular opinion and what is accepted by others (or rather, one who takes the opinions and testimonies of others for what they’re worth).

Could you imagine if politicians (in America, at least) actually had an interest in solving our nation’s problems as opposed to being right? I think the same goes for those of us with strong political opinions. People buy into political ideas simply because they’re represented by their political party and not because they’ve done the research on both sides of the issue and then reached a conclusion. However, that’s not to say that such a person hasn’t done the research on important issues–just that they come up with a conclusion, and then do research so they can argue about it. So they can be right. Ultimately, so they can exercise superiority over other people.

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Cute Elephant Story

The following is an inspiring story from a coworker. About elephants.

A tale worth reading:

I’m not going soft, but sometimes I like these heartwarming stories, and this one truly is amazing.

In 1986, Dan Harrison was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University.

On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Dan approached it very carefully.

He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant’s foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it.

As carefully and as gently as he could, Dan worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot.

The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments.

Dan stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.

Dan never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Dan was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son.

As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Dan and his son Dan Jr. were standing.

The large bull elephant stared at Dan, lifted its front foot off the ground, and then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Dan couldn’t help wondering if  this was the same elephant.

Dan summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder.

The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Dan’s legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

 

 

Probably wasn’t the same elephant.

 

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YOU COULD HAVE BEEN RAPED

… in the butt.

Excuse me, but I feel the need to add some comic relief here. Normally I’m not a huge fan of embarassing/abusing the hell out of family members via videos on youtube. HOWEVER – if it makes this dumbass wake up and realize there are predators out there, then I’m all for it. IN THE BUTT!!! (Please note you can’t see the embedded video if you’re viewing this from a facebook feed, so I may just look like a creep saying in the butt. In the butt! IN THE BUTT!!! To resolve this issue, head on over to www.postblink.com. ;) In the butt.)

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Gone…

So tonight, through a series of text messages, I came to learn that our high school accounting/computer-lit teacher, Ms. Roths died today of cancer (our = Craig B, Luke, and myself).

As I haven’t been in touch with many people from high school, I haven’t given much thought to most of them. It’s not in a malicious sense that we’ve lost contact–just the kind of separation that comes from leading separate lives that rarely if ever come into contact with each other. This was the case with Ms. Roths and I; therefore I really don’t have much else to write about, other than the surreal-ness that I feel and that I’m still at a place where it hasn’t quite sunk in.

Maybe Luke or Craig B. can contribute more?

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Pity & Fear

Ahh, Death Cab for Cutie’s Narrow Stairs. Just one of the albums I’m extremely excited for so early in the music game for 2008. You can hear one of the upcoming tracks via NPR. This is a very explosive track for Death Cab and definately a new direction – we’ll have to see where they take us when the album releases this May.

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