earth day

At the risk of sounding like a tree-hugging hippie, I have to get something off my chest.

One of the biggest downfalls of man, I think, is to get to the point where he feels entitled to things. "I've worked hard, so I deserve to be irresponsible."

But take a simple example: one works hard doing X, and does well. And in doing so, he feels like he has a right to purchase this amalgam of aluminum, rubber, wood, leather, extracted from all over the earth, and assembled into a large oil-consuming machine. Is it just me, or does this seem extremely disproportionate? What did he possibly do to have this sense of entitlement so as to take from the creation whatever he pleases for his enjoyment, without at least acknowledging that it is indeed a gift? We're all guilty, but most have lost that sense of guilt.

Perhaps people don't think about the environment too much for whatever reason. But I believe that being responsible with what isn't ultimately mine is not only an indication of good character, but in a way, it is ultimately partaking in divine work.

standing on the shoulders of giants

Everyone wants to come up with something new and call it his own. It's easier to be proud of yourself when you can say "I did this completely on my own" than to acknowledge that you were indeed helped. But such a statement is not only arrogant, it's simply false.

It may come as a surprise to some that the founder of modern science as we know it was humble enough to admit that he was merely a dwarf standing on the shoulders of giants ("nanos gigantum humeris insidentes"). Isaac Newton understood that he could never have discovered those laws of physics that came to be a defining moment in scientific history by himself. Yet sadly, scientists of the common era want to stand on his shoulders when it comes to his scientific discovery, but would rather step down when it comes to his belief in God. And thus they are reduced to midgets.

Toward the end of his life he said, "I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I appear to have been but a little boy, playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself, in now and then finding a smooth pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

Acknowledging his smallness, he became a giant upon whose shoulders we can stand and see much, much farther.

when naive optimism becomes deadly

In response to North Korea's missile launch, Obama came up with a brilliant plan. "Let's all hold hands, sing together, and convince Pakistan, North Korea, and Iran to get rid of their nuclear arms. But since no one wants to do it, we'll do it first! We can change the world. Yes we can!"

Honestly, this news pushed me over the edge. It means one of three possible things:

1. Obama is truly a naive or arrogant idiot who believes that countries with people who wish to destroy us will voluntarily give up their weapons;
2. Obama has some sort of scheme wherein he says "hey, we don't have any weapons" when in fact the US will retain some, which would never work because everyone else will likely do the same; or
3. Obama wants to destroy the U.S.

The end is near.