scottobear | (no subject)

I wish that I had a way to verify answers to the many questions in my head. It'd be nice to know what the questions mean, too. I'm good at internal debate. So good, in fact, I can convince myself of just about anything, if I put my mind to it. I'm good at external debate, too, but I've not had a chance to polish those skills in a while. I can honestly say that I've not seen a debate community of any sustaining value yet on LJ. I've seen a lot of argument communities; I think that many of those are stuck in an ad hoc or ad hominem school.

I wonder if it's a bad idea that I'm checking the Iraqometer daily, but avoiding most of the news coverage? I'm trying my best to get unbiased information, but it seems that it doesn't exist. I don't want the opinions of newscasters, I just want information, cut and dried. It's bad enough that the meter gets some of its info from sources that I consider to be weak.

I'm not one for being embarrassed by knowing that others are critically aware of me. Not sure if that's a strength or a weakness, or both. It's true that very few people have opinions that matter to me, but I take those opinions very seriously, even if those precious few don't realize it.

There’s a quote by John Donne...overstated and clichéd, but still quite accurate to my mind right now.

No man is an island. Entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

I need to remember in my heart that everyone is a part of the whole. It can be really easy for me to discount the value of others in the scheme of my life, save for a few major players.

YES: in the sea of life enisled, With echoing straits between us thrown. Dotting the shoreless watery wild, We mortal millions live alone. The islands feel the enclasping flow, And then their endless bounds they know.