HOW DO I TRUST THEE, LET ME COUNT THE WAYS; MORE ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND PASCAL'S WAGER
"My goodness that's a pretentious title."
"What the hell are you talking about man?"
"Hey take a chance, have I failed you before. Well maybe that once, but who knows it might be interesting. Read on for some stuff you may not have thought about."
TRUST IN A NUTSHELL
How do I trust thee, let me count the ways. I trust thee as far as I can .................and..............also.............furthermore..................... Is that all of them? No additionally there's ................................and........
"Enough!"
But before I go on let me show you where I got this trust thee stuff, just in case you don't remember from literature 101.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach................"
(Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
Remember? Actually it's a beautiful poem but just imagine if it read, "How do I trust thee, let me count the ways," and then not be able to think of any, because trust is something that's been stolen by modern life and has made pessimists of us all, or perhaps in some aspects of life should create pessimism. It's that grain of salt thing again.
Take a look at TRUST IN A NUTSHELL above. It mentions openness in communication, lack of hidden agendas, thinking of others as well as yourself, honesty and keeping promises.
How many people do you know fulfill all or any of these attributes of trust? Anyone? Come on now there must be someone who's never lied to you, never said something just to manipulate, never had a hidden agenda, was always open in speech, always kept promises.
Think about it and now apply these tests to media, the corporate infrastructure (big business), drug company's claims (snake oil salesmen), car salesmen, politicians, the political process, Iowa, New Hampshire (Live Free or Die), government. Do any of these entities practice the requirements of trust? Come on there must be someone. No? Well maybe Mom fits the trust category. Spouse? How many divorces occur in this country?
Well I guess it's just Mom. Moms of the world you do good work. By the way Mom is a title given to someone who rears you not just bears you. All mothers aren't Moms. Just read any newspaper on any day to see my point.
GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE
Well here we are talking about global climate change again. There was another letter to the editor on the op-ed page of the local paper (The News-Press, Fort Myers, Florida) that's got me back on the subject. Don't get me wrong this is an important issue and deserves all the attention it can get but maybe for reasons you haven't thought about.
Which brings me to the title of this opus. In the first blog on climate change, CLIMATE CHANGE AND HIDDEN AGENDAS, we discussed why folks may be touting disaster. Can we trust everyone to be honest about their intentions?
I don't know about you but I tend to believe other's veracity and have been burned a thousand times. Well maybe more than that. I've been told I may be book-smart but not street-smart. I've come to realize that street-smart means lying manipulator and that trusting soul may be just a dupe. To trust without reservation is to be taken for a fool. Ah, one more title for my resume. Lucky me. Eh?
ANOTHER LETTER
Today January 9, 2008 The News-Press Op-Ed page had another letter which echoed the video I mentioned in the previous blog, CLIMATE CHANGE, THE DEBATE CONTINUES, the video where the tall-good-looking-casually-dressed gentleman used logic and a chalk board to speak about why one should embrace efforts to combat the possibility of man-made global warming. If you haven't viewed it perhaps you should.
However the background scene looked like some kind of science lab which lent credibility to the speaker, he's smart, knowledgeable, he must know what he's talking about, by God he must be RIGHT!
But perhaps this is just my own cynicism talking. His performance was completely without bias. Riiiiight? Is any plea unbiased? "Maaaa why can't I go to the party, everyone's going. Please Ma, pleeeease!"
PASCAL'S WAGER
The letter written by Bruce Diamond of Fort Myers titled JUST IN CASE mentioned a long dead mathematician named Blaise Pascal, 400 years dead, who wrote what is now known as PASCAL'S WAGER. A sort-of bet with God. It goes like this:
" If there ends up being a God and you live a virtuous life, consider the possible rewards. If there is no God but you believe there is and you live a virtuous life what have you lost? If there ends up not being a God and you chose a wicked life, what have you gained? Yet if you deny God's existence and live a wicked life, only to discover in the end that really does God exist, the consequences could be horrific!"
Pascal's reasoning is that the best bet is to act as if there is a God and live a virtuous life since there is no down-side only rewards. That is an eternity in Heaven or merely the pleasure of living a virtuous life and thereby having no enemies, or maybe just fewer enemies.
Mr. Diamond goes on to say that this logic, as the logic in the aforementioned video, can be applied to possible global climate change. That is clean up our act and win even if Man has nothing to do with it and it's merely one of Earth's whims, a cyclic change that's normal. He concluded by mentioning that if Man does have something to do with the problem and we still do nothing the results may be, "catastrophic for our species and many others."
Take another look at that video and see the similarities. The video also mentions money and how world economies may be bankrupted one way or the other. Ah money, the root of.............., but that's another topic, another context. Or is it? Ay? I know it's getting old so I won't take up your time to tell you that ay is a Canadian eh. Oh, I guess I just did. Sorry.
YOUR COMMENTS
Once again I don't know if Man is the culprit or even if a problem exists. We at HURRICANE CENTRAL are merely passing on information in the best way we can. Note we have not given just one side of the argument in these three articles but rather all that we could think of. If you've got something to add there's a place for comments at the bottom of this page. Come on point out why I'm an idiot, or agree, something. Come on you know you want to.
HIDDEN AGENDA NO LONGER HIDDEN
Does GLOBAL WEATHER SOLUTIONS have a hidden agenda? Well yes we do. We wish to peke your interest and hope you'll look elsewhere on this site and examine some of our wares. Take a look at our store while you're here. The books are excerpted and there's useful information on hurricanes. If you've gotten this far you're obviously an intelligent human being and might be interested. Come on you know you want to.
That's that for this.
Whoops, almost forgot, the earth abides.
TAKE CARE,
JB
ALWAYS WATCHING OUT FOR YOU
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