I have good days and bad days. On good days I don't complain. On bad days I try to find something good to think about. I think that's what makes me a little eccentric. Last night was kind of bad. I walk by my aquarium and look at the hundreds of pillbugs inside. Somehow they dragged a big potato peel from one spot to another. How do they do that? A single pillbug could not pull a heavy potato peel! so I thought about swarm intelligence. Swarm. That's a fun word to say. It brings to mind images of dark clouds of locusts that fill the sky, swarms of bees, ants... Humans also display this emergent characteristic. It is imperceptible on the human scale, but viewed globally we too must be dragging our own potato peels from one spot to another.
I woke up the next morning with a new sense of purpose! Doesn't it feel great to be a part of something much bigger than yourself?
4 comments:
I love how you write, so freely yet returning to a common theme. It is as though you are holding a concept in your hand and turning it around and around until you discover that hasn't been viewed for a long time. Then, you write about it and help me understand it too.
Thank you! You write very well also. I write to help myself and other people think in new ways. Sometimes I cross lines that not everyone is comfortable crossing and talk about things that others might be uncomfortable talking about. I never try to be mean about it, but I like to make it challenging. Everyone has their sacred cows. But that's what makes blogging more than just record keeping. Of course, I do a fair share of that too.
When thinking about the use of blogs and blogging, I saw this segment on the Newshour last night:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec07/internet_09-17.html
One of the subheadings was "Internet breeding narcissism" - that's a dim view which I don't entirely agree with. Sure it can, but comparing the Internet to other forms of media isn't all that simple. Looks like an interesting book though.
I was just looking back at this, three years past. I was also looking at your post about turning hindsight into foresight. If I could give my younger self advice, it would be: the worry is unnecessary, it all works out, he will come home happy. I wouldn't change a thing. How about you, three years hence?
Oh, I don't know, that's a tough question. I can't recall which post it was where I wrote about that. Knowing what I knew then, I made all the choices I did using my best judgement, reflecting my needs and preferences. What sane person would do otherwise? But your are right that the future often proves all our worry and anxiety to be unjustified. That is a sage truth. Maybe I'd tell myself "stop and smell the roses more often, you could use a little more R&R."
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