Dispatched from Nowhere 02.21.06
Some days are better than others.
Creativity, as a mistress, is a fickle bitch. She dances in when she feels like it, dallies with me a while and then leaves me cold and alone. Somewhere in “On Writing” Stephen King said that creativity is about 5 percent inspiration and 95 percent hard work. I don't recall the exact quote. I've been hearing the same adage for years, usually sounding more like “10 percent inspiration 90 percent perspiration" or some other thing.
What I like is when the perspiration doesn’t feel like work. It just feels good. I like it when the music or words just flow from my fingers. They might not always be the right ones, but I can always (and do) edit. Sometimes, I can barely keep up with what is going on in my brain. Other times, it feels like pulling teeth to write a decent sentence.
This is not unusual. We all feel like this. Creation is hard work. That is what makes it rewarding.
Anyway.
There is an interesting interview on Salon with the author of the book "Eye for an Eye". They discuss "honor" or "revenge" based base societies and how they dealt with justice i.e. "an Eye for and Eye". They discuss how God is in the Old Testament and St Paul’s advice about your enemies ("If your enemy is thirsty, give him a drink").
You know the drill. If some one hates you, kill them with kindness. Not only are you a better person for it, but it frustrates the hell out of them. To quote the author of the book "Forgiveness itself is a hostile move that says, "You don't matter enough for me to go whack you."" Really, the feed your enemy stuff is the same stuff my mom told me as a kid. I don't think I ever managed to achieve that ideal state of mind. It was always a lot more immediately satisfying to just hit the bastard. That might just be me.
Anyway, back to the discussion at hand.
The author of the book brings up an interesting point about victims rights groups.
In the article he said:
"People like to dismiss these victim's rights groups as a bunch of crazed, vengeful, red state lunatics. I think they could be on to some deep moral sense that the wronged party has been undervalued in our fastidious concern not to undervalue the dignity of the wrongdoer. I think we may be in a zero-sum game here. Any anxious dignity you might confer on the wrongdoer is subtracted from the victim. Unless you find a way of making that up, victims and their kin will feel forgotten or undervalued. They're not getting the price right."
His argument is that only after setting a fair compensation for loss can there be peace.
What an interesting idea.
I have read a lot more about Islam in the news than I have in a while. There have been the protests (some peaceful, mostly violent) over the Muhammad cartoons and, more recently, over the decision to allow an Arab country (specifically The United Arab Emirates) take over management of the ports in New York and New Jersey, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Miami. For once, I agree with the talking heads and the politicians. This is a bad idea. I don’t think that control of those ports should be out sourced. Some things need to stay home. Manufacture of missile components, fighter jets, anything relating to national security. You know, the little things.
So, how do we feel about "revenge"? We cried for it after Pearl Harbor. How do we feel about Japan now? Do we still hate them for Pearl Harbor? Did they "pay" for their attack? Do we feel that Hiroshima and Nagasaki made us even? How do we feel about “justice”? We cried for justice and revenge after 9/11. How do we feel about the Arab world? Has enough time passed for them to achieve the same position Japan has now? Macarthur was rebuilding Japan for seven years after the war. Just a thought.
Port and border control is about national security. Should we be out sourcing port management to a foreign company who interests may not coincide with our own? I am inclined to think not.
I’m sure there is someone that disagrees with me. However, you can’t have national security by allowing items and access to be controlled by a foreign party. I don’t care what the president’s puppets say.
Edit. 02.23.06
Because there may have been some confusion regarding my position, I will now clarify.
When I found out that port management had been outsourced to a European country, my response was and is the same. Any issue and/ or item relating to National Security should not be outsourced, regardless of the nationality (African, Arab, Chinese, European, Japanese, insert nationality here) of the contract recipient.
Creativity, as a mistress, is a fickle bitch. She dances in when she feels like it, dallies with me a while and then leaves me cold and alone. Somewhere in “On Writing” Stephen King said that creativity is about 5 percent inspiration and 95 percent hard work. I don't recall the exact quote. I've been hearing the same adage for years, usually sounding more like “10 percent inspiration 90 percent perspiration" or some other thing.
What I like is when the perspiration doesn’t feel like work. It just feels good. I like it when the music or words just flow from my fingers. They might not always be the right ones, but I can always (and do) edit. Sometimes, I can barely keep up with what is going on in my brain. Other times, it feels like pulling teeth to write a decent sentence.
This is not unusual. We all feel like this. Creation is hard work. That is what makes it rewarding.
Anyway.
There is an interesting interview on Salon with the author of the book "Eye for an Eye". They discuss "honor" or "revenge" based base societies and how they dealt with justice i.e. "an Eye for and Eye". They discuss how God is in the Old Testament and St Paul’s advice about your enemies ("If your enemy is thirsty, give him a drink").
You know the drill. If some one hates you, kill them with kindness. Not only are you a better person for it, but it frustrates the hell out of them. To quote the author of the book "Forgiveness itself is a hostile move that says, "You don't matter enough for me to go whack you."" Really, the feed your enemy stuff is the same stuff my mom told me as a kid. I don't think I ever managed to achieve that ideal state of mind. It was always a lot more immediately satisfying to just hit the bastard. That might just be me.
Anyway, back to the discussion at hand.
The author of the book brings up an interesting point about victims rights groups.
In the article he said:
"People like to dismiss these victim's rights groups as a bunch of crazed, vengeful, red state lunatics. I think they could be on to some deep moral sense that the wronged party has been undervalued in our fastidious concern not to undervalue the dignity of the wrongdoer. I think we may be in a zero-sum game here. Any anxious dignity you might confer on the wrongdoer is subtracted from the victim. Unless you find a way of making that up, victims and their kin will feel forgotten or undervalued. They're not getting the price right."
His argument is that only after setting a fair compensation for loss can there be peace.
What an interesting idea.
I have read a lot more about Islam in the news than I have in a while. There have been the protests (some peaceful, mostly violent) over the Muhammad cartoons and, more recently, over the decision to allow an Arab country (specifically The United Arab Emirates) take over management of the ports in New York and New Jersey, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Miami. For once, I agree with the talking heads and the politicians. This is a bad idea. I don’t think that control of those ports should be out sourced. Some things need to stay home. Manufacture of missile components, fighter jets, anything relating to national security. You know, the little things.
So, how do we feel about "revenge"? We cried for it after Pearl Harbor. How do we feel about Japan now? Do we still hate them for Pearl Harbor? Did they "pay" for their attack? Do we feel that Hiroshima and Nagasaki made us even? How do we feel about “justice”? We cried for justice and revenge after 9/11. How do we feel about the Arab world? Has enough time passed for them to achieve the same position Japan has now? Macarthur was rebuilding Japan for seven years after the war. Just a thought.
Port and border control is about national security. Should we be out sourcing port management to a foreign company who interests may not coincide with our own? I am inclined to think not.
I’m sure there is someone that disagrees with me. However, you can’t have national security by allowing items and access to be controlled by a foreign party. I don’t care what the president’s puppets say.
Edit. 02.23.06
Because there may have been some confusion regarding my position, I will now clarify.
When I found out that port management had been outsourced to a European country, my response was and is the same. Any issue and/ or item relating to National Security should not be outsourced, regardless of the nationality (African, Arab, Chinese, European, Japanese, insert nationality here) of the contract recipient.
posted by depressoboy at 11:45 AM
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