It's In My Nature

A scorpion asks a frog for help crossing a river. Intimidated by the scorpion's prominent stinger, the frog demurs. "Don't be scared," the scorpion says. "If something happens to you, I'll drown." Moved by this logic, the frog puts the scorpion on his back and wades into the river. Halfway across, the scorpion stings the frog.

The dying frog croaks, "How could you? You know you'll drown!"

"It's in my nature," gasps the sinking scorpion.

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This fable of The Scorpion and The Frog is also a lesson on misplaced trust, on the limits of logic, on not escaping the insuppressible nature of things, and more:

What was the incentive for the frog to even entertain help carry that scorpion? NONE! It was not just the scorpion's nature that's in question here but more so it is the frog's nature to blame. That frog should not have helped in such an event with a clear eventuality. Wasn't this the co-dependency on the frog's part that sank them both? YES!

It is what it is, I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam. THIS co-dependent frog must question everything. I must fight my nature and do just my own... cross the river solo, and not help the scorpions. Kindness has its limits, clearly, and so I have my demons to fight.


- text © 2009 by Willy

Lock Up?

"We lock up more of our citizens per capita than brutal dictators like Robert Mugabe and Fidel Castro," wrote Cynthia Tucker in her request to end the War on Drugs.

I've got news for her. In the early 1960's, Castro's Cuban revolutionaries shot the entire previous party dead... up against a wall. No going to see a judge. It was televised, day in and day out. "Paredon!" they chanted. Thousands and thousands died, so there was no locking them up in the hoosegow. And many of the ones that were lucky enough to get to jail ended up dead anyway, due to starvation and sickness. Rape, murder and looting (in that order) were wholesale and only deterred by hefty walls and demonstration of defensive gunfire. No getting caught and going to jail for that, since the murderers were the new revolutionary party. Then in the 1980's, Fidel sent his prisoners here via the Mariel Boatlift and emptied his jails.

Since then, news and pictures have appeared of dissidents being beaten to death at the US Special Interest Section in Cuba ("the embassy")... no need to lock them up either.

Yes, Cynthia, brutal dictator Fidel Castro doesn't lock up the citizens... he kills them instead. Your statement is an insult.

"Tijuana authorities found 275 pounds of marijuana and a half-completed tunnel under the border," quipped Jay Leno, "Wonder why the tunnel was only half completed?"

Dahhh! Is it better to laugh with Leno and be ignorant like Tucker, or be stressed with the truth?


- text © 2009 by Willy

It's Coming, Again

In engineering, as in physics, we're very used to detecting things indirectly. You are too. Your dog barks and you know somebody's there. An object's shadow is sometimes larger than the object itself. Observation of effected and unexpected dynamics give it away. Correlation with associated behavior points it out.

Well, one thing that's coming is clearly the upcoming national bankruptcy due to the financial sector's unbridled professional thieves, with their accomplices in congress... an inevitable derailment that seems unstoppable and will destroy this country from the inside. Since we've had these before, you'd think we'd steer away.

The real thing that's coming and welcomed is Christ's birthday. Since Labor Day, we've had Christmas displays at stores. Closer in it's not just traffic jams and full parking lots but the inability to do regular shopping.

In my specific case, two additional things give away the season.

One is the inevitable upper respiratory infection, no doubt due to chilly temperatures while hiking and bicycling. Some Decembers are worse than others, and this one has been bad, having had to take off a week from work. It still lingers.

The second thing that gives away the season for me specifically is that my home stationary bicycle gets dusted off and begins its use, which will happen today. It's just too cold to hike or bike given that I'm still sick, and my regular gym is closed on Sundays.

I like the time off at Christmas. I really want to enjoy my peace and quiet both at home and at work. I can catch up at work this time of year simply because the storm quits swamping the boat and I can bail it dry, and I can relax and do my activities at home unencumbered with commitments.

I've had many discussions on the life of solitude that I've chosen lately. I find it joyful in its simplicity, with a maximum of independence, and better than monastic life by far. While taking a class on stress management from a nun, I just had to ask her what the hell does a nun in a monastery know about stress? She responded that she has to live with 50 other women!

There is also a third thing that could be coming. I've been very human, but I'm understanding my prior mistakes and trusting on early sensing and detection to stay away from trouble. The larger shadow will tell me trouble's coming, and then I must control myself, and stay detached and away. Unlike the upcoming national depression, this one I can avoid.

Yep, there's lots of stuff coming, again. Some good and some bad.

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- text © 2008 by Willy

Mistakes

There are many stories about unintentional pregnancies due to the risk of contraceptive failure. In one case, the girl confessed to her OB/GYN that she had always viewed pregnant single girls as either incredibly stupid or incredibly selfish, to which he responded "Or they’re incredibly human."

I'm less obvious, but I carry all sorts of baggage, including old mistakes... stupid, emotional and selfish, but human. I've been lucky in that I've recovered, however, I may be blind to my own faults while eager to point out their sins to others. Very human.

I hate somebody else trying to control me and change me. One of my sins may be that since I want to control my own life, I may extend control to those around me in some sense or in part. I don't mean to do this, but the difference between controlling myself and controlling my immediate environment is fuzzy indeed.

I am thankful for being just the way I am, and thus I have to be thankful for them being just the way they are too, no matter what. We are all intentionally diverse. It's a lie to think we're not good enough. Whether we're going to get through life or not is all up to each of us... not just me. There's a lot of healing in letting go... the acceptance of others.... and concentrating on fixing myself.

Just don't encroach into my environment.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change... courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.


- © 2008 by Willy
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