I Know Why Bad Things Happen to Good People

A recent comment from a reader on Self-Help Is Cruel inspired me to revive this blog, at least for today. I never read the book whose title I paraphrased for this post because the answer immediately jumped into my mind when I read the cover:

To teach other people compassion.

Think about it. If bad things only happened to bad people, and good things to good people, that would indicate there is a cosmic system of justice: people get what they deserve. And, if everyone got what he or she deserved, compassion would be pointless. Self-help mythology relates to this, because if every unpleasant condition can be fixed by "attitude" or whatever, then it lets people off the hook for feeling compassion for those who are poor, or ill, or heartbroken, or depressed, or unsuccessful, or any of the manifestations of human suffering--it gives them implicit permission to blame the sufferer for being too lazy to fix his problems. That's why I dislike writers who offer false promise of an abundant universe that will give you whatever you want. Compassion is more important.

Alex's Tanabata Wish

An astute reader noticed that Alex Thorn's Tanabata wish is never revealed in American Fuji. Rather than tell you what I had in mind, I though it would be fun to hear what you think. So . . . what did he wish for?

American Fuji Fan Question

Which man do you think is better suited for Gaby: Alex or Eguchi?

I'd like to know what you think!

Too Tired to Learn

You get used to doing something one way and then you don't want to change. Even if it's allegedly an "improved" system. This new blogger system doesn't seem like it should be too hard to figure out but it's just different enough to frustrate me and deter me from creating new posts. For example, it claims--at the bottom of the very page I'm typing on--that "CNTRL with I" will make italics but all I get is that sad beep of nothing happening.

This new blogger is also prodigiously saving my drafts at an alarming rate which pressures me to write faster. Will I rally in time to learn how to delete drafts? Oh, I could click on HELP, I know, but I don't have the time or inclination to wade through a massive data bank to find something close to what I want to do (but never exactly what I want to do). Does anyone else share this annoyance?

Carpe Diem or Cogito Heri

I read that the opposite of carpe diem is carpe snooze'm, but if you are living in the moment and sleep is valuable, sleeping in is a kind of carpe diem. I propose the true opposite of carpe diem is cogito heri (thinking about yesterday) or cogito cras (thinking about tomorrow). Living life to the fullest need not be restricted to full-bore achievement; it can include playing, sleeping, and even watching snow fall. It's the planning, speculating, and remembering that take us out of the ongoing epiphany of "now."

Silent Trees Falling

It's been a few months since my last post and I stopped to consider why I lost my motivation to blog. Why do I find it more important to waste time watching the snow fall in the woods than to write? I think it's because I'm not sure anyone reads blogs except a handful of friends and a random passer-by or two who got lost in the woods looking for something else. Blogging is like being an exhibitionist when no one is around to watch. Like trees falling with no ears to hear the sound.

A Ballot Is Not an Exam

It's election day and you are in the little booth behind a half-curtain, doing your duty as a citizen of a democracy by voting for candidates you want to win, when suddenly you come across a list of candidates you don't know for a position you didn't know existed (Treasurer of what?) or a ballot measure you've never heard of before. And temptation strikes. You have the overwhelming urge to punch a box, any box, just to complete your ballot.

Something about the way a ballot is set up triggers echoes of multiple choice tests. Unless your teacher was fanatical and took points off for wrong answers, it was always better to guess than to leave a question blank. This got hard-wired into us; if we get a form, we have been trained to fill out the whole thing. But a ballot is not an exam, and we are destroying democracy if we succumb to the urge to make random choices.

Be strong and keep in mind that you don't get a grade on your ballot. The votes you do make will be counted if you leave some options blank. Only vote for whom you know.