Wednesday, May 10, 2006
What It’s All About, oh, and Boston Legal and that Bird Flu Show
I decided to watch ABC’s latest disaster film, “Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America”, and I became thoroughly annoyed by it. Most of the films that speak to the potential disasters faced by the world today are filled with messages about how we can avoid the disaster, and normally include some criticism of what we are our present readiness for the potential disaster.
And to me, this is what makes these films so worthwhile. Like my blog, I think it’s important to communicate to people a variety of opinions, allowing for informed opinions on important issues. And as such I see a value to disaster films that play that role. On the contrary, disaster films that focus on real potential disasters and abandon these messages in favor of sensational deaths to me seem self-serving and disgusting.
Analyzing my Blog
This brought me towards some recent comments on my blog, indicating that I am strictly negative and offering nothing worthwhile to the blogosphere. And while those opinions have predominantly come from people on the opposite side of the aisle from me, I respect their opinion, and give it the consideration and attention it is due.
Now I can’t say if what I write adds anything to the world, only those who read my writing can say that. But I can say that while I notice my work sometimes being overly negative, I also feel that my goals are optimistic, that I believe that a better future can be achieved if we take some positive steps, and I want to challenge people to draw their own conclusions about the world so we can make those correct steps, and achieve a better world.
In actuality, I feel very hopeful, and think that we face so many issues today because we’re at an exciting point in our history. Now, you don’t need the theory I’m about to put forth to get the gist of the article, but I think it’s interesting, so if you have a moment, take a gander.
The Crossroads Theory – Read this Section only if You Have the Time
Basically, I have a theory, and perhaps it’s not original, but I believe that life is a path that we walk along. The farther the path is straight, the more comfortable we get with the path, and the less stress and strife we face along the path. We could be walking through a thicket with poison barbs, and if that path has run through those barbs for a long time, we’ve probably learned how not to get nicked by now, and remain safe.
Many times on our journey we come across a path that veers off of the main path. Choose it or not, the potential for a new path creates new challenges, new decisions, and new events in our life that we have to confront in some manner. Like in the Charles White picture, the best rewards are at the end of these paths that veer off the main road. But beware, not all veering paths end in a prize, and veering from the main path is a risk.
And sometimes we face a crossroads. The crossroads present the best potential outcomes, and the greatest possible risks. And note that the crossroads have rounded edges, not square ones, allowing that the challenges begin to occur well before we reach the crossroads, but as we are approaching it, as we start to see the potential decisions appearing over the horizons.
The World Today
This is where I see the world today. We are close today, much closer then we’ve ever been, to reaching a world that can live in harmony. I’m not speaking of a world where we don’t see differences between citizens; I’m speaking of a world where people everywhere are tolerant of the differences between the people, and thrive on those differences, respecting other cultures and yearning for knowledge of them.
I can’t say if close means a year away or a decade away or a century away, or if we’ll even overcome the hurdles that have been laid out by this particular crossroad. But I suspect we’ll overcome those hurdles, if we work together to understand and defeat them. And that’s why I find it important to blog, to express my opinions, and hopefully help people critically analyze events and search for the right path.
Conclusion
So the moral of the story is that I do feel optimistic about the future of the world, but I feel we have challenges we must face and conquer to achieve this world. Some of the challenges deal with human interaction, and some of the challenges are in how humans interact with the earth and the environment. But if we overcome these hurdles and find the right path, I think that amazing things could be ahead for the world. And I blog as my own little way of helping people use their own logic to find the right path.
I finish with a quote from Alan Shore (James Spader) on Boston Legal today that I thought was particularly poignant.
That’s what troubles me, this notion that we have to take sides in this country now; you’re either with us or against us, republican or democrat, red state or blue state.
No one looks at an issue and struggles over the right position to take any more, and yet our ability to reason is what makes us human. Lately we seem so willing to forfeit that gift of reason in exchange for the good feeling of belonging to a group. We all just take the position of our team. I’ve certainly done it and hated myself for it.
technorati tags: First Contact, Bird Flu, America,ABC, Television, Boston Legal, Blog, Blogosphere, Blogging, Crossroads, James Spader, Alan Shore,Optimism
Posted by Scottage at 2:36 AM /
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Basically, I have a theory, and perhaps it’s not original, but I believe that life is a path that we walk along. The farther the path is straight, the more comfortable we get with the path, and the less stress and strife we face along the path. We could be walking through a thicket with poison barbs, and if that path has run through those barbs for a long time, we’ve probably learned how not to get nicked by now, and remain safe. 
Many times on our journey we come across a path that veers off of the main path. Choose it or not, the potential for a new path creates new challenges, new decisions, and new events in our life that we have to confront in some manner. Like in the Charles White picture, the best rewards are at the end of these paths that veer off the main road. But beware, not all veering paths end in a prize, and veering from the main path is a risk.
And sometimes we face a crossroads. The crossroads present the best potential outcomes, and the greatest possible risks. And note that the crossroads have rounded edges, not square ones, allowing that the challenges begin to occur well before we reach the crossroads, but as we are approaching it, as we start to see the potential decisions appearing over the horizons.
