Everything In Between

I first discovered this quote years ago, when I was going through the home instruction process thanks to the ineptitude of the New York City Board of “Education.” I find it equally relevant now, and always.

“When we adults think of children there is a simple truth which we ignore: childhood is not preparation for life. Childhood is life. A child isn’t getting ready to live. A child is living.

“The child is constantly confronted with the nagging question, ‘What are you going to be?’ Courageous would be the youngster who, looking the adult squarely in the face, would say, ‘I’m not going to be anything; I already am.’ We adults would be shocked by such an insolent remark, for we have forgotten, if indeed we ever knew, that a child is an active, participating, and contributing member of society from the time he is born.

“Childhood isn’t a time when he is molded into a human who will then live life; he is a human who is living life. No child will miss the zest and joy of living unless these are denied him by adults who have convinced themselves that childhood is a period of preparation.

“How much heartache we would save ourselves if we would recognize the child as a partner with adults in the process of living, rather than always viewing him as an apprentice. How much we would teach each other—adults with the experience and children with the freshness. How full both our lives could be.

“A little child may not lead us, but at least we ought to discuss the trip with him, for, after all, life is his and her journey, too.”

— John Taylor, Notes on an Unhurried Journey

I think Liz has seen the light!

I was just looking but not really looking at my “Start” button and I swear to God it said “Stab.”

Personally, I think she’s got the right idea. ;)

Via Char on IM.

I decided that Christianity has some good uses, good ideas, lousy implementation. It’s hard to disagree with “Uh, hey guys, why can’t we just, you know, be nicer to each other? Not be so judgmental? No one’s perfect after all.”

I was like, “Yeah, that’s a good idea! Rock on.” But there’re all these flippin’ rules about things like, yeah, we should be nicer to each other but only every other Tuesday when the wind blows from the South.

I think this is worth saving. While speaking about efficiency in the workplace (or rather the typical lack thereof) with Char, the topic of computers and automation came up as it always seems to do with me. She made a good point, namely that proofreading is not (yet) desireable to automate, and likely never would be.

Nevertheless, silly technical mistakes like typos and incorrect spelling should be a thing of the past thanks to spell checkers and the like built into most good computer word processing applications these days. Unfortuantely, few people really use these tools to their fullest advantage. This whole topic can probably be a series of posts on its own, but for now I’ll just save this one snippet from the conversation:

Spell check is the best thing since sliced bread, but you still gotta spread your own butter!

I may have spent only twenty years alive, but you have spent only half your life living.

People frequently comment on how young I am. Ironically, I feel much older than most of the people who have remarked about my age. The above quote goes through my head whenever I speak with someone who makes this observation while showing little maturity of their own.

For a time today, part of a friend’s away message read:

Love is the religion of the weak. The worst is over.

To which I responded,

Love is the religion of the strong. Faith is the religion of the weak.

Random bits of conversation between myself and Danica tonight.

• Do you always play musical instruments with your tongue, or is that just for show?

• I like when Tufik goofs off. It shows that he’s still human.

  With a name like Tufik, you can never be too sure.

• I like this one. It’s like your body is lava, except non-burny.

So someone wanted to know if the Internet’s dating scene was all about sex. My response:

The Internet is a horrendous place to meet people you want to care about. The world is just too full of assholes and morons, and the chances of meeting one of those folks far outweighs the chances of meeting anyone decent, statistically speaking

So, I kissed Danica.

Her: I was just thinking about Sleeping Beauty.

Me: Yeah? What about Sleeping Beauty?

Her: It’s a story about necrophelia, you know.

Danica keeps her 17 inch laptop’s screen at a resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels. That makes everything really small.

Me: Why do you like everything so small?

Her: I like small things. Except penises.

Now that’s an ego-booster.