Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Limitations...

When I got home today, I picked up one of my new books which I'd gotten for my birthday in April and read some things worth sharing with others. Nothing too profound, but good in general. The book is called "Steal This Computer Book 4.0: What They Won't Tell You About the Internet" By Wallace Wang. The following is word for word, with few things edited out in order to be as broad as possible without taking it out of context. So, I apologize if anybody sees this as plagiarizing.
"... Instead of blindly blaming national governments, international corporations, ethnic groups, sexual preferences, multicultural organizations, ideological beliefs, religious institutions, or political parties for all the world's problems:

- If you change the way you think, you'll change the way you act.
- If you change the way you act, you'll be able to change the way others act and think.
- If you change the way others act and think, you can help change the world -- one person at a time.

But it all begins with you.
None of us can be correct 100 percent of the time, and the first step toward the change is admitting that neither you nor I -- nor your parents, your boss, your spouse, your family, your government, or your church -- know everything.
There's no shame in not knowing everything, but there is shame in pretending we know everything when we don't. We can and must learn from each other, regardless of what we look like, where we live, what we believe in, or which flag we salute. Open, honest communication is the only way we can change this world for the better ..."

Pretty interesting stuff, but also true. This all goes along with something I believe strongly: Truth is nothing but a point of view! Which is the title of the section five paragraphs further. Basically, "... Good and evil depend solely on your point of view."

The next post will be about Questioning Authority. Not in the way you might be thinking, but I'll get into that next time. Till then...

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Chocolate Trees

After going to church today, my son, Christien, kept yelling that he wanted chocolate ice cream on a stick. The following is the dialog between he and I, to the best of my memory (this was hours ago):

Me: Well, where does chocolate come from, Christien?

Christien: Chocolate comes from... it comes... chocolate comes from sand, Daddy!

Me: Well, I guess that if you want some chocolate ice cream, you should go get it out of the sand, right?

Christien: No, Daddy, sand is dirty! I want it from the 'fridgerator!

Me: We don't have any more, so you'll have to get it from the sand since chocolate comes from sand.

Christien: But, it's dirty! I can't eat dirty chocolate, Daddy!

Me: But, how else are you going to get it if chocolate comes from sand and you don't want to get it from the sand?

Christien: It doesn't come from the sand, Daddy! From the 'fridgerator!

Me: Okay, so where does chocolate come from, now?

Christien: From...from...from chocolate SEEDS, Daddy! Chocolate SEEDS!

Me: Okay, so where do we get chocolate seeds from?

Christien: Chocolate seeds come from Chocolate trees! And when the Chocolate seeds come off of the Chocolate tree, we can get them!

Me: Where else can we get chocolate seeds from?

Christien: From the store!

Me: But how are we going to get the seeds from if we don't have the money to buy the seeds?

Christien: We have money, Daddy!

Me: Oh really? How much do chocolate seeds cost?

Christien: FOUR!

Me: Four what?

Christien: FOUR SEEDS!

Me: So, chocolate seeds cost four seeds?

Christien: Yes.

Me: But, how much do they cost if we don't have the seeds?

Christien: FIVE!

Me: Five what?

Christien: FIVE SEEDS!

Me: Ohhhhhh! So, chocolate seeds cost five seeds?

Christien: Yep!

Me: Oh, okay. I get it now...