Sunday Musing

Little time for the holidays Strange ironies, the beginning of longer days marks the start of the coldest.   Most wait until there is the least amount of daylight to go out and celebrate.   A billion celebrate the birth of their savior by spending their short days buying things made by nonbelievers.   Then, many waste the better part of a long, cozy, sleepy night to stay up and watch midnight arrive.   And -- “Ho, Ho, Ho!” -- a tenth of the world sees its longest day and shortest night, while looking forward to shrinking daylight and a hot summer.  

Tiny Bubbles in the Plonk A bubble is a little wonder, and we enjoy them because of their small pleasures.  Even when a big one pops, it is a guilty pleasure to watch.  The pop is not the problem, as each is the almost magical creation of something seemingly out of nothing.  When many appear out of the mix, the sudden expansion can become an explosion, destroying the very thing that holds it.  The reality is that the bubbles arose from the mix too quickly, and we were not ready for it. Good wine needs no bush.

The Power Law of Endearment There are no limits to the depth of affection, yet it is seldom mined.   Yet when it is, its benefits snowball.   Is it the feeling itself that inhibits or its power?   If one hates to think about it, then it may be both.   Fearing what binds results in loving what isolates, hence a diminishing return on an infinite feeling.

What will be cannot be inspected Nothing stays the same, in spite of appearances.   But change announces itself like the unseen winds before a rain, swirling and pushing a message forward.   We feel the force and sense the brooding, but we can never know how it will fall, if it falls at all.   Peril or promise, the sense of change is less than a speculation, just a hint.   How we take the hint is what matters.

Of Bureaucracy What if everyone needed something, something important, but the supply was limited?   What if everyone expected it, considered it an inalienable right?   What if there was no morally correct way to deny them? Governments face this dilemma frequently, but Nature never has this problem.   In Nature, each gets what each can, and the ones who do not, well, you know.   This observation is not new, and it may be as old as governance itself.   The solution has generally been to create a maze of protocols and procedures that require individuals to perform a gauntlet of tasks in order to acquire that expected something.   Many protocols and procedures across many areas of governance made accountability difficult or even impossible to isolate.   As a result, those with the will and wherewithal to accomplish the tasks and traverse the gauntlet got their something, while others, well, you know.   Such is life.

Drawn to the extreme It is hard to turn away from watching a train wreck.   A plane crash draws an audience immediately.   Disasters are perversely addicting.   A blend of wonder and disbelief, their appeal is primal, almost feral.   Even when one knows one should not, one does.   It is the self-destructive part of human nature.   Enjoy the show, like a deer in the headlights.