Argument

Argument is good for the soul; or at least a little good, old-fashioned debate can be. And perhaps not even good for the soul, necessarily, but definitely good for the thought structure. "Oh no," you might say, "conflict makes me so uncomfortable." Me, too, gives me the hives. Then why seek out an argument? Well, to find out you're right, of course. Or wrong.

You must test your beliefs, your views (or at least be open to having them tested for you), to know if they're worth having, or, for that matter, to know if they really are your beliefs. Argument--sincere, respectful argument--is the light to which you hold up a belief, like you hold up a piece of glass to check for flaws. It's scrutiny invited and welcomed by those who know to place less value on "belief" than on "truth" of the kind which transcends experience, points of view, and opinions; and by those wise enough to know how much they don't know, and what wonderful opportunities such a position has to offer.

If your belief holds up against argument, not only just holds up, really, but deepens, hardens to judgment, and is able to genuinely defeat the criticisms and challenges laid out in its opposition, then it becomes more and more likely that it is, in fact, the truth. At the very least, it becomes a more comfortable belief, with the hope of someday being accepted as truth, an outside creation delivered into your perspective by grace and your willingness and existing independently of any "belief" whatsoever.

Such a profound gift, to be truly appreciated, warrants being clarified, questioned, and refined, worn the way you wear the plaid, flannel shirt that belonged to your grandfather, until the elbows are threadbare but always holding, and the soft, perfectly weathered fabric feels indistinguishable from your own skin. It is of you and for you. Whatever nugget you're privileged to uncover, as beneficial as it might be to others who seek your direction, is never to be used as a weapon, nor should it be expected to serve as the dial in anyone's moral compass but your own.

Fashion in England

The others are still in the living room watching tv. Somebody mentioned Auburn, and it reminded me of a dream I had last night. I stuck my head around the corner and said, "I dreamed last night that I got accepted to Auburn. I don't want to go to Auburn."

Christy asked, "You'd rather go to England?" (following a hypothetical conversation about Oxford University)

I said, "I don't know that I want to go to England...I might like to go to England."

Kira added, "I'd like to go to England...and correct their fashion mistakes."

Kira is definitely "on" tonight.

Cake is Everything

The others are in the living room watching the SEC gymnastics championship on tv while I do school work in the kitchen. They are alternately awed, shocked, and somewhat disgusted.

After some discussion about the equipment and pads and such, Kira said, "Sometime I want to have my birthday party at one of those places, so we can play on all that stuff."

Seth pointed out, "You had a birthday party there already."

Kira replied, "Yeah, but the cake was terrible."

Academic Honor and Capitalism

Apparently, cheating is on the rise. It isn't any surprise, when you look at Enron, Bernard Madoff, the use of the bailout money, the salaries vs. performance of what appears to be every major corporation that's having any financial problems whatsoever at this point. You don't cheat that big your first time out, and you don't get that good at, or that comfortable with, sliding things around enough to get that ethically out of balance, even if you're still on the light side legally.

If you're going to stop it from happening, you have to stop rewarding it.

Clearly, we have to work our way backwards. I really believe that, as with everything, the first thing to do is STOP it where it is. Take away the carrot. You can implement all the earlier interventions in the world, but you're never going to get people to believe what you think is best for them to believe by force. One belief is simply no stronger than another.

Academic dishonesty isn't any different from selling your shares the night before an unfavorable court ruling you know will crash your stock value. Lying is lying, cheating is cheating. All of it is about getting yourself further ahead by any means possible. In America, we call that "capitalism." All this whining and crying about socialism confounds me.

First of all, we are a million miles from socialism as practiced in Cuba, the old East Germany, North Korea, or China. There is no private industry in socialism. But theoretical socialist ideals of equality, universal health and education benefits, less class distinction and more focus on the collective are GOOD THINGS. Obviously, the actual practice of it has been beaten all to hell by the previously named countries, but American practice of capitalism isn't exactly a paragon anyone decent anywhere else in the world should be pushing to emulate either. Seriously, people, look around...I mean, now that the election is over and these words aren't just for hysterical button-pushing anymore.

Who are we?? First answer: If we're poor, nobody. If we're rich, some kind of damn deity. Look up our census data. www.census.gov Read the information on income, the medians, the lowest, the highest. Look at the poverty level, and the number of people in the family who are existing on those numbers, and then go up, up, up, until you get to where your income is, and you still don't think you have enough. Look at exactly what percentage of our population really does make more than $200,000, and recognize that it wasn't just part of the democrat propaganda. Look at the people waiting for the city buses, even with our supposed "defeats" of racial bias. Take the damn steroids away from pro athletes, for God's sake. Then you can talk to me about cheating, about how to get kids, adolescents, college students, and adults to stop thinking like common predators, how to convince them that there really is plenty for everybody.

Honor "codes" on college campuses have some chance of influencing some people, simply by virtue of pointing out honesty as a favorable quality, as well as by the community focus and involvement. But you can't fix the rearview mirror on a rusted out shell of a car sitting in the middle of a corn field and expect to drive it out of there.