Sunday, March 21, 2010

climate change and atheists

can you both believe in climate change and be an atheist?

if atheists don't believe in something they cannot see or find evidence for, then how could one believe in climate change which is based on a future state of the earth?

Thursday, March 4, 2010

hope

it would be interesting to know if any other life form on our planet experiences hope.

I think we assume we are the only species so lucky but I wonder if instinct is the only driver or if there hope in the mind of the great majestic whale or in the hovering hummingbird.

hope keeps us curious, keeps us interested, driven on a pathway without knowns, alive?

I assume that every day I will get the next and hope encourages me to make the most of the time I am given. It excites me to see my kids grow, my relationships with others develop and my understand of the world stretch and expand.

I think I have come to accept that with each day I am not becoming smarter but rather my base of knowledge grows, my ability to process logic gets more experience and my emotional side gains further examples of the human experience.

I can't imagine what it would be like living in a war torn time or place, I assume I wouldn't have these same luxuries and I am so grateful for my situation.

I hope that somewhere in our future we find a way for my priviledge of knowledge, experience and human experience can be the minimum for all humans on the planet. what would it take to channel our greed to something less destructive and harmonious with all humankind?

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

the most powerful force

human greed.

is there really anything more powerful?

it drives people to do the most horrible crimes and tell the most horrible lies.

we want more money, stuff, love, food, space, entertainment, attention.

the simple living movement tells us to declare "enough" and we do but we are secretly just redirecting our greed elsewhere. are we not? we say no to fancy cars and fancy houses but then secretly our greed lusts for more answers and knowledge, more wisdom, more information and we secretly know that will give us more power when we need it.

so what? so what is our reckless greed is out of control? good question?

yes, particularly when you realize that for the most part our legacy of our greed lives on well past our demise, just like our contributions to the community in positive ways, and we help humanity on its way to extinction.

if we are an experiment on our this cute little planet, then greed is the constant in the equation to destruction. the countdown is on as long as any of the variables is above zero we slowly, but surely, destroy ourselves and the planet. while there may be other components in the equation if any of them is zero the countdown stops.

what would life look like if we weren't greedy? I have no idea.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

curriculum vitae extraordinaire

have you ever worked with people who had a fantastic resume but sucked at working?

I am getting really tired of these types. Having a sales pitch for every challenge never actually tackles the challenge and being a sweet talker doesn't get stuff done.

Is it just me or are the ranks of these people growing? Both the full timers and part timers are increasing in numbers.

The ability to search the internet at work seems to only be making matters worse. They try and look busy at the computer but I think they must just be browsing up on what smart people are saying about work so they can be prepared for when their are challenged for what they are doing.

There is no such thing as easy money and I will not have slackers in my midst!

you may look like a dog, bark like a dog but if you can't run with the dogs, you aren't

Monday, March 1, 2010

murder or self defense?

one thing seems common in the past years is that natural "disasters" and their related death tolls are good business for the news media. the ironic component to a headline that reads "storm kills #" or "earthquake kills xx" is that in fact what has usually killed them is the building they were in or the space they had chosen to be in or some infrastructure or ours succumbing to nature.

we choose to live on coast lines with water levels that are not exactly the same always. we choose to build buildings made of materials that if they fall upon us will kill us. it is all our choice in the matter, the earth just continues on its cycles and we are a participant.

but here is a interesting thought, what if the earth in fact has a natural cleansing cycle, a self defense mechanism of sorts? wouldn't that just throw off our little plans for world domination?

on a serious note, we clearly have become ignorant of the risks of living on the planet to the extent where we are largely unprepared for the surpises. I struggle with this as part of my insides wants to spend time and money prepare myself and my family for just these things. as time goes on I see that I have not missed my obligation but that false sense of security is not a good feeling. Here in Manitoba a complete power loss in the dead of January would be the real surprise and I don't know how long we would last. Loss of water system would be not much better but food stores we have due to the nature of cooking from scratch regularly you have the need to have ingredients on hand.

our dependance on the capitalist system that supplies all of our needs puts us firmly in the grips of business leaders and I think we are lucky our planet is not more violent than it is.

so, while their is harm resulting from our occuputation of this planet and living amongst its cycles, could the news media not cover the story differently? does it all have to be about death and blame for the lack of protection? could it not instead be a story of natural science education and preparedness? can it not be about a story of survival rather than loss?

I grow weary of the headlines and I am reminded of my stopping of watching and listening to news and the need for me to stop reading the news websites. drama has a place but it is not in the news media.