New Stuff...

There are times that I am amazed at the possibilities... This is one of them. I have been playing - again - with my blog. I keep thinking that the next thing that I need to do is to move beyond doctoring the standard templates and creating my own with Dreamweaver. That may be a bit off and in the future; for now I am content to play with toys. The most recent toy is RSS.

Really Simple Syndication

I have set up two systems on my blog for a direct feed. At first this strikes me as being the nadir of hubris: who would want to have my blog delivered to their cyber-doorstep? Well, you maybe. Maybe not. But the opportunity is there. I have set up a couple of buttons on the bottom of the page to arrange for said delivery. If you really crave an email, you can enter your addy into the box and click on the button that allows tDF to be delivered to you at the speed of light. Now it occurs to me that I may not have anything that significant to say. But, really, that is not for me to say. You have the choice and that is what is important.

You would think I would learn how to smile when I have my picture taken... Oh well. Not in this image, I fear. I guess that the great joy of having a blog is to indulge in some harmless hubris. I can play with toys that, used properly, could be powerful tools. I can manipulate a technology that I could not even imagine when I was a kid back in the late '60's and into the '70's. Hard for me to believe that I am that old. I have kids in my classes that were born in 1990 and later. I am a child born in the fifties, and came of age in the mid-seventies. I have a faint recollection of a super-computer that predicted Johnson's election against Barry Goldwater. The computer that landed the Apollo on the moon was much less powerful than the calculators that we use in class.

Dictionary

You can now double click any word in the text of tDF and be taken to a link that will define that word. Now you can see just how poorly I employ the richness of the English language. You can click on words and see if I have misused them. Really, this is born of a love of the language. I can browse through dictionaries for hours happily. I love to play with language and occasionally can do so with some skill. I do try to reward my readers with some clever double entendre or allusion on occasion. When in doubt, quote Greek.

Same Time Last Year

I have taken to pasting links on the title of my postings to last year's posts. This is a personal history for me. It is a chance to see what I was about then. It is a way to take stock. It is a source of perverse satisfaction for you, Gentle Reader, in knowing that no matter how messed up you are that I am even more fucked up that you! An encouraging thought, that!

Coming up on 200 posts. How shall we commemorate this occasion? My geotracking has indicated that this little blog has been read at least once in every continent of the planet. That is a freaky thought for me. I have come to realize that I have a community that is now world-wide. No, I am not in touch with all of the nearly 5000 people that have accessed this blog in the past year, but I am amazed that so many of you have happened by. I hope that some of you choose to return and share in my life, my laughter, my searching for love.

Live, Laugh, Love...
-tDF

Oτι ο θεος αγαπη εστιν

I’ve been thinking about life and love again… always a fertile topic for me. It seems that I have never really come to grips with the reality of the finitude of relationships. I have always longed for that passionate and eternal love which seems to be, at best, a figment of my imagination, unrequited at that. Ah love; you are such a fickle mistress. Why, my dear, have you not deigned to bless me with your bliss?

My Credo, For Lack of Better Terms

I still believe in love. That is it. There is nothing difficult to grasp or to parse here. I still believe in love. Belief and understanding are such different things. At one time I thought I would love and be loved in return. Now I am finding that love remains elusive. I do not refer only to sexual or romantic love, to ερός or φιλος but to “Love Itself.” I have always been something of a mystic. Even my email handles have the word worked into the titles. The arch-mystic of the NT speaks to my heart’s sensibilities and in these words I find an intimation of the divine:

Ο μη αγαπων ουκ έγνω τον θεον, οτι ο θεος αγαπη εστιν
(1 Jn 4.8)

It is the idea if active and passive voice, the loving and being loved, of giving and receiving that resonates with the deepest chords of my being.

Symbiosis

The idea of a shared life comes to mind. There is an intimate relationship implied in the mythology in Genesis between the divine and the mundane as earth and air dance to create life. It seems to be that the physical act of love is a reenactment of the dance of creation: an empty vessel is filled and a new life is created. Like the rainstorms that pagan mythology sees as the Sky God making love to the Earth Mother, so in this oneness – however fleeting – life is renewed.

I am a casehardened believer in the power of love.

I suppose that all love assumes a triad, to paraphrase St. Augustine: the love, the lover and the beloved. But what of “Love Itself”?

Love Itself

I have moved away from the NT mythology of the incarnate Christ. I find great beauty and power in that myth. The beauty of the divine λογος becoming flesh to establish a remaining-place with us is powerful indeed. It bespeaks a love supreme that reaches beyond the self to find its fulfillment in the other. Selfless to find self, a paradox in an intimate embrace that seeks only the other. I used to believe that I could love that way.

Whether I say God, Christ or Love Itself, I am speaking of the same thing: a love that creates, sustains, and gives hope for the future. I do not know this love, but I do believe in its power to transform even a heart as careworn and broken as mine.

The Penultimate Facing the Eternal

I am finite, made of dust that for a moment dances in the wind. My ability to love is limited, as I grasp and still find myself clinging to myself, afraid to lose myself in the Wholly Other. My lovers and friends have all gone away. All that I have is my soul. It is all that I am, have been, or can be. It is my sum and total, and yet is nothing unless given away to another that can bring it into a place where it is born anew.

And still, I believe in love…

Sunday... Ah, Sunday

It is difficult to believe that it is Sunday. I have enjoyed a hiatus from teaching, from work in general. It was the week of Thanksgiving. I did nothing. Well, not quite. I cooked. I played guitar and piano. I chorded out a new song (one that is almost too cliche for my taste) and arranged "Fade Away" for piano. It was a nice break, but I am preparing for work anew.

Preparing Lesson Plans

I am looking for simple algebraic equations that can be used with my special ed math class that (a) contextualize practice with algebra and (b) are within their realm of capability. I found a neat example that uses simple algebra to calculate the speed of a moving car based on the surface and the length of the skid mark. I am toying with the idea of doing a thematic unit on cars in motion. To do it justice, I will have to do more than the simple math. I need some film and other resources. I can call them the "Crime Lab" or some such moniker.


A Long Shower... This Is the BEST of Things!

I just took an obscenely long shower. I soaked in the shower for at least 45 minutes. I did stretches to loosen muscles, but mostly just soaked. What luxury! What decadence. I recall not too long ago when we were in the grips of a drought: a shower was five minutes max. This began many of my habits of water conservation. Today they went down the drain, literally! I soaked, relaxed, changed into comfy clothes and thought more about my lesson plans. I should do dishes, but they can wait a bit. I need to cook some steak before it goes bad. I live in a world of abundance. It is when I consider that I have the luxury of throwing food out that I realize that I am fortunate beyond measure. I do not live a life of comparative luxury. I really live rather simply. But it is all relative: in comparison with the rest of the world I have more than can be imagined.

Relationships... Never an Unfamiliar Topic for the Fool

I am in a relationship that I believe is moving too quickly for my comfort. It is my fault. I let myself get swept into things and then realize that I am moving more quickly than I consider to be prudent. I am not certain what I should do. As always, I find that if I assert what I should have asserted at the offset I run the risk of hurting somebody. If not, I run greater risks. I hate to hurt people. Sometimes I allow myself to become passive in relationships as a result of this. Not really certain what to do. I need to mull this one over. I like CN. She is a musician and plays beautiful violin. But there are some other issues; the greatest of which is that I just don't feel passion there. I have been a passion junkie in the past: I love hot sex and all of the drama and excess that goes with it. I am not certain that this is healthy, but it feels as if I have exchanged a life of gourmet dining for a bologna sandwich. That may not be the best metaphor, but it comes close to the mark.

It is Sunday... best to enjoy the quiet and the day. More later.
-tDF

Happy Turkey Day...

Anybody that knows me also knows that I have an aversion to holidays. I have a long-standing hatred of Christmas (as a commercial event), Birthdays (mine included, perhaps especially so), and other events that the mavens of commercialism have decreed to be dates to spend that they may profit. No, it is not the idea of a holiday that disturbs me, it is the profit making motive that disturbs me. I am a generous person. I give to my friends. But I will not be told when and how to do so.

Thanksgiving Daze

Am I the only one that is struck by the irony of beginning the Christmas shopping season the day after Thanksgiving? I think not. Still, there is a bitterness when we - the most consumerist nation on the planet - take a moment to recall a mythology of poverty and privation of our foreparents and then go on a spending spree that makes the people at Citibank rich and leaves us poor in spirit. Call me a cynic. Call me Scrooge. Call me honest. Diogenes would be proud, well, that might be a stretch.

I am cooking the bird this holiday - and having great fun doing it (soaking that sucker in a lemon/bayleaf brine, making homemade cranberry sauce... the whole works; I started Tuesday night... Thursday we will eat). Why? I know my history better than most. The Pilgrims were undocumented aliens that were one step from starvation when the indigenous people shared food with their uninvited visitors. Turkey was not even on the menu. Venison was. Still, I don't want to kill Bambi's mother to celebrate what I choose to observe. As you can see, I have no problem playing with the mythology. I am willing to eat the bird, largely because I like turkey and it gives me an excuse to spend a day doing something I love: cooking for people that I love.

And therein lies what I am celebrating.

I could give a damn about the Pilgrims. This is not my mythology. I do care about generosity. I do care about sharing. I do care about taking time to take honest stock of myself and what I value.

The Fool's Top Ten List of Reasons to be Thankful

10. Music
9. Doing work that I love
8. Friends
7. Life itself
6. Realizing that we are all part of one common life
5. Really Good Sex (yeah, let's be honest, we all love the big "O")
4. Poetry
3. Time with my kids
2. Seeing them grow into beautiful and powerful women that are strong, loving and wise
1. The sunrise

Holidays and Holly Daze

Again, I will steadfastly refuse to buy because the culture says that I should. Again, I will try to be true to my vision of what is good and generous. Again, I will fall short but will continue trying to be the man that I know is within me. Again, I will look at the bird and recall that even this life that was cut short for mine is a connection. I will give thanks in my spirit for the spirit of the animal whose flesh I eat and try anew to live in a similar spirit of generosity. Who knows... one day we just might prevail, not by force of arms but by the courage of generosity that reaches past the definitions of friends and foes to see that we are all one.

Besides, I get to cook and am diggin' on the idea of doing this with the greater community. Who knows... it could be like the 100th monkey, we do the same thing, but for different reasons and a change occurs. Hey, it could happen.

And for that I am thankful.

- tDF

__________

A small update...

Dinner was smashing. I served a brined turkey (lemon and laurel, with cinnamon and cloves), a homemade cranberry/citrus dipping sauce, brussel sprouts (blanched with butter and seasonings), and garlic mashed potatoes. It was good. I made "Eggs in Purgatory" for breakie the next day (used the mashed potatoes to make potato pancakes, served on marinera and topped with a fried egg, sprinkled with parmesan cheese). I've been enjoying the moistest leftover bird for the past few days. I love to cook for friends. I will look forward to doing the same this weekend for my daughter. Life is good. Hoping yours is as well! -tDF

Whose Intelligent Designer is Authoritative?

The curious thing about teaching in special education is that you are often called upon to teach outside of your discipline. A special educator is called upon to be an inspired generalist rather than a specialist. As a result of this, I have found myself teaching science classes (earth science and life science). I admit that my command of the sciences is cursory at best. I felt a need to do research. This brought me in contact with “intelligent design.”

Religion v. Science Redux

I am a believer in truth. I also believe that there are several means by which truth may be examined and, hopefully, described once discovered. The vocabulary is not the same, nor is the perspective. Truth, in any universal sense, is greater than perspective and vocabulary. Indeed, it can only be described in similes or metaphors, paradoxes, and hypothetical. The nature of a universal truth is its transcendence and therefore its ineffability.

Put simply – perhaps too simply – science concerns itself with what and how, religion with who and why. Science is predicated upon a rigorous method that reflects the philosophical tenets of the Enlightenment. It is a method predicated upon exclusion that seeks, by process of elimination, to reduce empirical observation to natural truth: a process of distillation. It is the sine qua non of natural observation. This method may bring the observer to the brink of the metaphysical but does not make claims in that direction. Indeed, its primary concerns are understanding; the natural and devising a grammar by which the natural may be described in an orderly manner. This is not to impose order, simply to utilize the human need of order to explain and understand that which may have no a priori organizational schema.

Religion is concerned with ultimate truth and therefore must speak in figurative terms. The canon of truth is quite different from the objectivity sought in scientific inquiry. Theology seeks to know who (or what) creates and orders the cosmos and asks why this thing was accomplished. What would motivate a creative agent to create? This is properly not the domain of science. This is theology. Theology is a slippery area of intellectual endeavor. It concerns itself with dogma and must concede that while a particular creed or confession may make an absolute truth-claim and that it is subject to the ratification of faith. Indeed, if “I” understand that ultimate truth has been communicated then how, in good conscience can “I” place lesser truth on the same level? It cannot be done. I understand the claims of fundamentalists. I do not support them.

This differentiation troubles me when I consider the question of intelligent design. Speaking as a trained theologian, I am troubled that by the presumption of a “god unknown” that creates per a design that is presupposed to be a priori. It is the perception of design that drives the deity. This is the realm of natural observation. Any design is a creation of the observer, not of the event. To impose a design on a god, known or otherwise, is to have made a creedal statement that supposes the observers’ understanding of nature to be equivalent to divine revelation. This is troubling to me insofar as it represents the apotheosis of finite vision and makes scientific observation the stuff of myth.

Whose Intelligent Designer Should I Wear This Season?

The presumption of order is just that: a presumption that may or may not stand when placed in the light of honest inquiry. Is the observation of a part truly indicative of the whole? That a pattern appears to exist in a sample may or may not imply a design. Consider random numbers: patterns may be extrapolated in a random distribution of integers. This speaks to the need of the observer to have order rather than the supposed intention of the distribution, to say nothing of the nature of a great and transcendent distributor.

I have to ask the question: who is the intelligent designer stands behind the patterns that defy random distribution or accident? Is this the Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Druid, Aztec, Sikh, Hindu, or [fill in any religious expression that you may desire] designer or designers whose mythology is validated by cosmic plan? Moreover, why is it presumed that science, specifically evolution, is antithetical to faith?

There is always some wag that wants to point to the Hebrew “Yom” to represent a day or an epoch. I will say nothing of the philological howler that this constitutes. I will point to the function of myth and the existence of not one, but two distinctly different creation myths in the Hebrew Bible. Read the first three chapters of Genesis. There are two narrations. The P account (Genesis 1) and the Y account (Genesis 2-3). They each bring a differing theological agenda: P seeks to present God as the priest that stands above creation, speaking creation into being by the agency of the divine word: God proclaims and that which is not becomes that which is. This is reflected in the prologue to St. John’s Gospel. The Y account speaks of a God that gets dirty; molding the mud into a body then inspires and animates the clay into being. This is a God that exists within creation. They stand in juxtaposition to each other to say that one myth is not primary. And this does not even regard mythology whose origin stands apart from the soil of Palestine.

Differing Compacts of Truth

Evolution is clearly observable in the form of Natural Selection. This may or may not imply the existence of an intelligent designer (to borrow that rather flawed term). As an educator in the public schools, I am troubled by the imposition of flawed religious language cloaked in a masquerade, disguised as science. If I value my religious convictions I should speak them clearly without fear, trusting that the truth will withstand whatever criticism and scrutiny to which it will be subject. Truth will stand.

Intelligent Design is bad theology. I am not expert enough to criticize it as science, though I suspect that my friends whose method requires a purely empirical critique will come to a similar conclusion. If we seek truth, let us do so boldly and honestly. If we seek to impose an agenda that is built upon the ignorant assumptions of those whose vision of truth is limited by the boundaries of their prejudice we do harm to the truth: let us, in the name of truth, oppose this and bring it to an end. Science and theology both seek truth; one in nature the other in the divine. Both are uniquely human endeavors and are not mutually exclusive. Perhaps a bit of intelligence in the understanding of faith is what is called for?

Ah, but I am only a fool…

Christ and The United Methodist Church

I have rather intentionally avoided – at least recently – discussing issues of faith. I feel as if I have set aside my right to be a critic of the church. When I left it for personal reasons, I also left behind my role as loving critic. I have discussed faith. I have discussed moral issues while referring to the church. I have, of course, made comments about the so called “Christian right” and wondered aloud why there is not a vocal “Christian left.” I have remained largely silent on internal issues of the church; I have done so until today.

Ordination and Consent

I was the Washington Post and came across an article about a recent decision by the United Methodist Church to defrock an openly lesbian minister. I find this very disturbing. I am not an expert in Methodist polity; indeed the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – the denomination to which I belonged – embraces a more congregational polity than the UMC. I have to ask some basic questions about the nature of ordination and baptism, the nature of the public office of the word and sacrament, and the foreknowledge that the ordinators possessed when the Rev’d Ms. Irene Stroud took her vows.

The article that appeared in the November first edition of the Washington Post indicated that the UMC had instituted a policy of benign ignorance and passive ascent. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” may have been a valid interim paradigm for the military but it should never have become ecclesiastical policy. The central value of any expression of the church is kerygmatic: we proclaim the truth that brings the promise of freedom. Intrinsic to a policy of obfuscation is a lie; behind every lie is an attempt to conceal the truth, behind that is the undoing of any organization dedicated of a liberating truth. More than the issue of revelation is the question of what was known when hands were laid upon Ms. Stroud’s head and the office of the keys was commended to her care.

The problem is that no one is without sin. There are no pure pastors, priests, rabbis or imams. Thus, it is not a question of purity but of grace, that drives ordination. The pastor is a sacrament to the community. He or she is a means of grace. Like bread and wine, or water, this person becomes the means through which a community will learn to experience the reality of a loving and forgiving God. This is the ideal Christian understanding of the pastoral ministry. No one is sinless at ordination. All are sinners. And what is more, despite the sin, the community sets this person aside – with full knowledge of human shortcomings – knowing that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. It is the great paradox of the cross, the Christian church asserts, that it is in this weakness that the power and glory of God is revealed.

Did they know that Ms. Stroud was lesbian? Apparently so. Did they ask her to be party to a sin of omission? Again, apparently so. Did they require her to commit to a celibate lifestyle or to live in a monogamous and covenantal relationship? The article does not ask or answer that query. Was she ordained and with her vows of fidelity to the teaching of the church was there an implicit agreement that she would neither tell nor imply her sexual preference and living arrangements? That may be a central issue. Nevertheless, this is not the only issue. There is also the question of church order.

Polity, Politics, and the People of God

When I was active in the Church, I had to live with the reality that my life was held to closer scrutiny than those of my parishioners. This is the nature of pastoral ministry. There is some legitimacy in this. A pastor leads by example, however flawed. But this is a double-edged sword. The pastor is not only accountable to the spiritual needs of her flock, but to the order of the church of which she is a member. He can do nothing to compromise the integrity of the body. Should Ms. Stroud have spoken about her sexuality? No, she should not have. Should she have been placed in that position? Absolutely not. Nevertheless, she was and appears to have accepted this limitation freely and without coercion. There are times that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.

Polity is difficult. That balance allows the church to exist in the world. It is the art of ordering an ideal community in the context of real conflict and political intrigue. The truth of pastoral ministry is this: we take vows not only to preach and teach, but also to support the institutions of the earthly church. There are ways to effect change. To violate a covenant is not one of them.

This is not a missive in support of the right wing or a “conservative” agenda in the church, using that term advisedly. To have singled out a gay or lesbian pastor that was ordained in full knowledge of that person’s sexual orientation for removal from the clergy roster while supporting the actions of a pastor guilty of exclusion is reprehensible. This is the politics of power that uses inclusion and exclusion as tools of a political agenda. This is to be challenged and opposed with blood, bone and marrow.

Again, I must reiterate that I am in no way an expert on the polity of the UMC. I speak as one that knows the Christian Church and is appalled at both the actions of Pastor Stroud and the ecclesiastical court that removed her. A pastor does not speak for him or herself. The pastor’s actions are taken as those of the congregation. A denomination does not embrace a political agenda for mere penultimate gain; it must recognize that it is an expression of the body of Christ.

Unity and Diversity

Christ ate with whores and tax collectors, Pharisees and Sadducees, Jews and Gentiles, Lepers and the broken of body and spirit, with the rich and the poor. How can the church do less? Christ used the example of the Samaritan – people that were considered by Judaism to be ritually unclean and excluded from the people of God – as the example of compassion and chesed. Jesus, the man, is said to have risen above the prejudices of the day to see in the broken and outcast the face of the Creator. Perhaps this is what it means to be Christ. Luther got this one right: he said that in baptism we are called to be Christ, not simply to worship Christ. We are called to set aside judgment and learn to love.

Ah, but I am just a fool…

The Breakfast Club

It is Saturday morning. I have just had my coffee and have arrived at work. I do the Saturday detention. Really, it is a way to get paid for the hours that I would put in anyway on Saturday as well as allowing the detention to be more humane for the kids that messed up. I am not really into punishment. I try to help them to see this as a time to get some work done and make amends for a bad choice. I never really bought into the punitive model of education. I tend to think that school discipline needs to regard the kid, treat him or her with dignity, and require the same from him or her. That last part is hard with adolescents. It is a mutuality that I work toward.

Special Education and Class Behavior

I think that one of the hardest things that I have to do is manage the classroom with a group of special ed kids. They are not the kids that are able to apply the logic of consequences to their actions. They still need to moderate their behavior. Minimal expectations are just that, the bare minimum that is acceptable for anything.

A digression on minimal behavior; if I have rant, this is it: we – as a culture – have come to accept the minimum and punish excellence. The punishment for excellence is not always obvious. It can be the attitude that professional dress is frowned up (“Don’t do that, they’ll come to expect it…”) or asking why a worker will put extra effort into a project for the sake of pride in work. The result is that we worship at the altar of the great god Mediocrity. I do not believe in doing a half-assed job. For that I offer no apology to those that worship at that idol’s altar; I seek excellence. I want to be the best, not because I think I am better than others, but because I want to be better than I am. If I raise the bar, the kids will also rise to meet my expectations. But it is not fair to do that without offering appropriate support. Here ends the rant.

Behavior is the minimal expectation. I would like to believe that it is possible to inculcate a love of learning to my kids. I know that they are motivated when they make a grade. I think that they have gotten the idea that I give them a grade. I don’t give then squat. They earn their grades. Granted, I have changed the rubric for how the grade is made. I reward effort. My feeling is that if kids are receiving enforcement for effort that achievement will follow. Call me crazy, but this is my educational philosophy. I expect appropriate behavior in class. A kid that is removed from my class for behavior also loses points for that day and his or her grade is impacted. This is not a punishment. It is a choice and the logical outcome of the choice. Thus is the world. Thus is my class.

But, what happens to that kid that just does not get it? I have kids that misbehave for various reasons. Much of which is that they simply have not learned what is appropriate in class. I try to lead these kids to understand that they have to do what is asked. This is not a playtime: this is work. They are on what I call “my time.” There are the kids that understand precisely what they are doing. Those I come down on hard: consequences are quick and clearly defined. There is no ambiguity as to the reason for an action. Equally, consequences for good behavior are as quickly, if not more so, meted out. I want the kids to see that their appropriate behavior also has logical consequences and that these consequential actions are to their best interest.

Behavior Rather and Intention

Intrinsic motivation is the most powerful force to affect behavior. That is also something that a person finds in him or herself. Most of the time we all act out of perceived self-interest. Our motivation is to get something or avoid something. This is as true for the kids in school as it is for teachers and other adults. We act out of self-interest. Rarely do we ever transcend ourselves and act selflessly. This is not cynicism. It is the truth; we all act for our own purposes. For the most part what is good for “me” is good for “you” as well. The community is served as the individual prospers. I pay taxes not out of love for the government, but because I like having roads, police protection, schools, clean air and water and so on. I work not just out of love for my students – which does motivate me to do this rather than something else – but because they give me a little bit of money at the end of the month to do this (another subject for another posting).

Another rant: Why do we criticize our kids for wanting a reward for their labors? It is not a bribe to give a kid a homework pass or other reward for good work. I get paid for my work. Yet, we hold our kids to a higher standard than we ourselves are willing to attain: they have to work for the love of learning, we work for money. There is something wrong with that equation. Something very wrong, say I. While I would love to say that I am building an intrinsic love of learning that would be a stretch, even a lie. I enforce learning because the kids have come to learn that this is in their best interest. They receive positive reinforcement for their performance. They like the praise. They like to be rewarded with grades. I like to be rewarded with money. What is the problem with this? For my kids the rewards need to be immediate. Talking about the future is beyond most of them. But we expect them to learn for learning’s sake! This is truly bass-akwards when we consider that the kids in question are developmentally not at a point that they can grasp an ideal of altruism. Fair has nothing to do with it, it seems. End rant II.

Fair is Getting What I Need, Not the Same as Everybody Else

Why is this idea so hard to grasp? What is fair is not always equal. Yes, I believe that equal work deserves equal pay. But in order to do equal work some of us require disproportionate support. I have likened it to the comparison of social Darwinism to socialism. Capitalism rewards achievement is the cliché. What it rewards is reckless abandon for the rights of others in the name of greed. The strong may survive, but what of the compassionate or the creative? Rewarding strength only results in brutality.

Fairness is a loftier goal. It seems to me that many of us have never developed an adult sense of morality. I could offer my opinion as to why and never effect the impact of the observation. We believe that fair is equal distribution and then hold a contradictory notion that it is fair to keep what is attained by effort, even when that harms others. We use petroleum products like drugs in this culture. Is it fair to harm the environment, potentially permanently, so we can drive Hummers? The response is that “I earned this… It is mine.” Fine. What good does it do you when your children will not have a world in which to live? How is that fair? Fair is when all people get what they need, not what they want.

Fairness is difficult. What do we need? We need food and shelter. Really that is the minimum necessary. I would argue that arts are necessary. I also allow that not all would share that viewpoint. Food and shelter are the basic needs. We, as a world, have also agreed that a minimal education is requisite. It is difficult for me to justify as much as I have – and I live very simply – when I consider how little most have.

The minimal expectations need to be met. This is the beginning of a just society. But that will require a change in behavior. Behavioral changes originate from a perception of self-interest. And that will be deuce difficult…
But not impossible.

Ah, But I am only a fool…

- tDF