Tuesday, October 30, 2007

How'd I forget that?

















Emily left a comment with the quote from Boris, the philospher, "Miserable being must find more miserable being. Then... is happy!" I remembered the quote, but until I did a little Google research just now, I forgot it was from The Lady & the Tramp, which was my favorite movie ever! I'm only 26; I should not forget things like that!

Friday, October 19, 2007

Birth Order Bias

There was a story on the Today show this morning (I couldn't watch it because I had to leave for work) about scientific support of the theory on how birth order affects personality, etc. I was somewhat familiar with this concept, & I would expect you've heard of it, too. I looked it up on Google, which is how you find out things, & there are a lot of places that talk specifically about this theory. I picked the reference to Wikipedia, & it was interesting to read what some have said. I'm the first-born in my family, & I have to say that what they said about the first-born, both pros & cons, sounded like a description of myself. How far can you take this, though? I know several first-borns who are very different from me, but I'm guessing they would also identify with this description.
The problem with this study is that the people finding this stuff out are themselves either first-borns, youngest, one of the middle-children, or only-children, & that would give them a bias on their opinions of their own & other people's categories. The only way to get an objective viewpoint on this would be from a scientist from outer space. Even androids or computers with Artificial Intelligence would be influenced by the bias of their programmers. This can apply to many arenas of study, can't it?

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Life Purpose

I'm reading a book called What Should I Do with My Life? by Po Bronson, & while it's not from a Christian perspective, it gives you some interesting things to think about. An illustration that came up is of 3 men laying bricks. Someone asked one of them, "Why do you lay bricks?" & he answered, "To make money." The second man was asked the same question & he said, "To provide for my family," which sounds a little better. But the third man answered, "I'm building a cathedral." His job was for something he found worthwhile & valuable! I'm not "building a cathedral" with my current job, but I have to remember something else - everything I do throughout my life, while it seems pointless aside from paying the bills at this point, is preparing me for my greater purpose. I'm learning about myself & what is valuable to me. I already know what is eternally valuable, & I pursue those goals in other arenas, but I'm talking here about more temporal value, which is still value. The Lord puts us in situations to learn about ourselves & know better what we ought to pursue. For some it takes longer than for others, but "peoples is peoples..."

Friday, October 12, 2007

Analogy Explained

One of my favorite $5 DVDs is Muppets Take Manhattan. My favorite part of the movie is when the Russian owner of a NYC cafe gives advice to Kermit. He begins with, "Peoples is peoples..." & continues to use a bunch of metaphors that don't make any sense to Kermit. Kermit replies, with the confused expression only a frog puppet can make, "Thanks... That helps a lot." If you think about what the man said & use your imagination as to what the metaphors might have meant, though, you might actually make some sense of it.
I sometimes adapt this monologue to say, "Peoples is peoples. Is tomatoes, is pumpkins, is sea turtles, heh? Peoples is peoples." Here is what I mean: When people do things that don't make any sense to you, remember something I've heard Chip Ingram say, "Everybody does what makes sense to them." People are all different! This is where my analogy comes in (if you've read my previous blog "Grapes & Pumpkins", this is along those same lines). Some people are like tomatoes, in that they need structure to bear fruit. Some people are like pumpkins, because they will grow better if you leave them alone. The "sea turtles" fit more into the big picture. "Let me tell you what is:" hundreds of sea turtle eggs are laid on the beach every year. When they hatch, though, most of the cute little baby turtles get eaten by birds & lizards, what have you... but the ones that make it to the ocean can live over a hundred years! I'll just let you think about that one...
Let people be themselves; people are different, so don't be afraid when people don't do things the way you would do them.