It Is Better To Be Thought A Fool in Silence . . .

     I was occasioned to remember a quote that I heard when I was a child.  It has been reworked many times but, essentially, the passage is, "It is better t be thought a fool in silence, then to speak and remove all doubt."(Abraham Lincoln or Socrates).  The reason why this is the subject of my post, today is that, during my college career and in life, I have come to the realization that I don't know ANYTHING.  This is true for most people.  Now, I don't mean that people are stupid, it is just that we don't seek information that could be detrimental to our world view.

     An example of this is a person who I have become recently acquainted with who lives in my dorm.  This comes from a very sheltered home life and has a very limited view of the world.  Anytime that you try to introduce a new side of an argument/statement/discussion with him, he tries to make it fit his view of things, even if he is wrong.  You could tell him something that is a fact, a verifiable fact, and he will get upset and say that you are calling him ignorant and being dismissive.  I told him that I wasn't criticizing him, I was just letting him know that he was misinformed and pointing him to the truth.

     Another example of this is someone who makes up facts just to fit their argument.  I get furious when someone is making an argument and you can just see them making up the "fact" just to make their point.  Instead of admitting they may not have the full answer, they will just plow through, trying to justify themselves.

     However, more directly, I see this in my classes.  I see this a great deal.  Especially with the younger kiddos.  The will argue with people with PhDs over things that are a settled fact/theory just because it doesn't go with the "thing my brother's best friend's sister who worked as a secretary for so-and-so said".  It is funny how they want to be right in the face of being wrong.

      In these cases, you have people who are trying to make an argument with incomplete/missing information.  Many of us have been guilty of this, myself included.  The difference is, if you don't know, say you don't know.  Because, when everything comes out, you end up just looking stupid if you don't have your facts right.  And even when we are wrong, we should be able to admit it.  It makes you look more intelligent by acknowledging that you were not correct and that you are open to changing.

     That's my take.

The First Days of School

     School started on Thursday.

     WHAT?  Why not on Monday or a Wednesday?  What kinda sense does that make?  Who knows.  All I know is that I was there.  Coming back, getting into the swing of things is really cool.  Now that I am in my second semester of University, I feel that I have everything under control and I am all Kool-n-the-Gang.  Now, for some simple observations.

     1.) I moved back into the dorms (which I am not in love with) but, since I didn't have a job, I gotta go with what I can afford.  However, this will probably be my last semester in the dorms, for two reasons.  the first is, I don't care for it here.  It's small and I share it with another dude.  We sleep  a foot away from each other.  My dorm room is the size of a hotel room because, it USED to be a hotel room.  My dorm is a converted Motel 6/Super 8/fill-in-the-blank.  I also have a good amount of things.  And you can't have people over. Especially, if you want female company (not THAT kind of company, perverts).  Just sayin'.  Plus, I didn't get my old roommate and it takes patience to put up with me at times.  He "got" me.  And that is saying a lot when you live  *that* close together.
    
     Second reason:  The dorms are cool, but I will be looking for a "real" job or internship soon and I need to start establishing for the future.  A more space with furniture and cooking facilities future.  The grown-up look future.  The, "Hey, let's get together at my place." future.  See where I am going?

     2.) People keep asking my stuff like I know things.  This is cool because it means I look like I belong.  SWEET!

     3.)  The college bookstore is a racket.  Every time I go there, I feel my wallet screaming from getting ass-raped.  I am taking a statistics class. $100+ for the book and $175 for a F'ING GRAPHING CALCULATOR?!?!?!  Another $175 and I would have a netbook and I could do the calculations while surfing the web through this boring class.

     4.)  I am going to my first college football game.  I am really excited for that.

     5.)  I GOT A JOB!!!  I start the paperwork tomorrow.  It is working for the Catering department at my University.  It wasn't the job I was really looking for, but hell, I need money sooo, yea.  Back to skills that pay the bill.

The End of Summer, New School Year and this blog.

     WOW!!!!

     So, it has been a full month since I have posted anything.  Truth be told, I haven't had anything worthwhile to post.  But, to get this thing rebooted and get the creative juices flowing, I will recap the summer as best as I can. I think the best way to do this is to set out the goals that I had for myself and tell you how everything shook out.  Vamanos!

Goal #1:  Work and save money
     Yeah  A lot of the former, none of the latter.  I ended up not working my old job as a tour guide and worked in a restaurant.  It was cool, but in a down economy in a tourist destination, not that profitable.  Which means I worked a lot of hours.  For not that much money. Yep.

Goal #2:  Hang out with my friends:
     I did very little of that.  See #1.

Goal #3:  Go toobing, A LOT:
     I went three times.  See #1.

Goal #4:  Have fun:
     As much as possible.  Yet again, I refer you to #1.

Goal #5:  Decide on the direction of my blog:
    That, I did do.  I am going to post once a month, minimum, something that has to do with International Studies/Relations.  That will be a schedule, promise.  I just haven't decided the day to pick.  I am leaning towards the 1st (cheesy), the fifteenth (because it is mid-month payday) or just pick some random date for utterly ridiculous reasons.  The other stuff I post will just be stuff that happens to me as a student (mainly) and random observations.  That is what you can expect.  I promise. 

     Yeah.  Like I haven't said that before.

The Break and the Malaise

     YEAH! Internet access.

     So, it has been a month since I have written anything.  The last two weeks has been laziness and the entire month of July and part of August was because of lack of computer or reliable access to internet service.  But it feels good to be writing and today I want to write about breaks.  Not the kind of breaks like something got destroyed in a physical sense, but break in the way of...well, taking a pause in something.

     One thing that I have discovered about summer vacations is that they are not the same, for me,  as they used to be, when I was a child.  It used to be fun, getting out of school and just playing all time and not having any much responsibility.  I remember that we used to travel as a family and do a great  many things.  However, now that I have returned to school, as an adult, I don't view this break in the same way, especially this summer.  It isn't that I have more or less responsibility than I did before.  This break was different in that I wasn't in summer school, like I was at community college.   I didn't travel. I didn't do anything "interesting".  I didn't do anything but work.  I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere, learning anything and could feel myself kind of falling away.  And all summer, I couldn't wait until school started again.  And here it is and I embrace it with open arms.  And I wasn't sure why, at first.  Then, the answer hit me.

     It is in the doing of something that we enjoy or a goal that we wish to pursue that gives us meaning.  It could be anything like being a parent, working a good job, being a better partner or person.  It could be traveling or bettering yourself through some type of education (ie. taking a class in pottery).  Whatever that "thing" is, the happiest, most fulfilled and successful people I know found it.  I want to ultimately find mine.

     Until then, school will suit me juuuuust fine.

Moral Hazard...Just a little bit.

Written on 3 July 2010.

     This was a Facebook post that a friend of mine posted. Although this would make for a lively in person debate, this is not possible. However, I felt my thoughts on it deserved more than a quick reply. And, since I was not able to actively participate in the ongoing discussion at that time, this is my humble reply.


     “Americans who appose governmental control always make the claim that they prefer social responsibility instead, case in point the growing crisis of obesity. In principle that sounds great, assuming that people are inherently responsible. However, people are not, and they will always take the path of least resistance. So what should the government do? Watch as society leaps to its demise and do nothing?” –M


     M. What we have here are two questions that are up for debate. One is the question of how much government is too much government and the second is how much responsibility is given to the individual. You and I have had debates about the former, so I wan to address the later. As a social liberal, I feel that you can do whatever you want as long as it doesn’t affect anyone else or affect the collective good of society.


          Having said that, I believe, in our current society, that people don’t realize the TRUE COST of a thing. It is funny that you mention obesity because a fellow student and I used this example in an argument. If you get fat on your own accord, we in a society are encouraged/forced to accommodate you. Granted, there are some people that are obese for medically valid reasons. However, in a majority of cases, people are obese because of lifestyle choice. Now, for some that fall in the lifestyle choice category, they make these decisions without the full benefit of knowledge or education. For others, they willfully do it to themselves. For others, they simply don’t have a choice (i.e. poverty makes them choose cheap, unhealthy food over more expensive healthy food). I would like to exclude this third group for a moment and address the first two.


     Follow me here. I promise there is a point.


     Let’s frame this argument in the realm of Universal Healthcare. For the sake of argument, let’s assume everyone is entitled to the same basic amount. Two checkups a year, free emergency care and free primary care. Now, we tell everyone, “If you get sick, we will take care of you. If you have an emergency, we have you covered. Your basic care will be taken care of, cost free. But anything that you do to yourself, you have to pay for, full cost, unless you have supplemental private insurance.” Who wouldn’t want a chance at that? You go to the doctor and the doctor tells you, “You are 20 pounds overweight. You need to change your diet, drop twenty pounds in the next three months or you will be paying a fee/penalty for every visit.” Would you do it? What if this free care included lifestyle help? Classes that would help you make better choices? Even surgeries if you are obese? We have now eliminated the uneducated, because now EVERYONE has access to the same info. This only leaves us with those who willfully make a lifestyle choice. So that person goes back to the doctor, and says, “Hey Doc, I didn’t lose the weight and now I have complications. Can you help me?” Then the doctor helps them, but at the TRUE COST of the decision (i.e. the costs of pills, treatment etc., that can easily go into the thousands). Those tow problems solved, without grossly invasive government intervention. There are some that say that this doesn’t work. This is untrue because it is already being done in the private sector, without government involvement. This is a good case for moral hazard.


     Now, I want to address the issuse of people knowing better, but not having money to do it. This is where we need government intervention. Those who want to eat better but can’t afford it need the government’s help. We are all aware (I hope) about the dangers of our current food supply situation. However, this is a private business concern. I don’t want to go all Food Nation on you, but until the government intercedes in the broken parts of our food supply, the government should help those who want to help themselves, insetad of subsidizing the obesity of America.


     M. This went a little longer than I anticipated. I welcome your insight into this. Or, if any of your friends read this, I would be interested to see what they see in your feed.

Little Things

     This was written on 28 June 2010.
  
      It has been a month since I have been back in San Antonio. I am staying with a friend of mine in a pretty decent house. However, her house has NO A/C!! She rents and when I first got to her place, I was wondering to myself, “What kind of landlord rents a house with no air conditioning?” This house isn’t even equipped with fans. Who does that? For anyone who hasn’t been to San Antonio, Texas, it is F—KING HOT during the summer months. Two summers ago, it was so hot that there was one month of 100 degree days. Being in any building without adequate ventilation is akin to being in an oven.


     And yet, she stays there, with a box fan in one room, with her little boy. So I asked her why. Her answer was that when she left her last apartment, she needed something in a hurry and this was the only thing available for her.With the financial situation she was in, at the time, it was a struggle and she had to take what she could get. She is in a sitution where she is not getting any financial support from the father of her children and it is really difficult for her to keep things together. Hence, she was lass concerened about AC and more concerned about keeping a roof over her kids head.


     It gives you insight into things that you should be grateful for. Little things. Like AC. And this is kind of a metaphor for life. Sometimes we get caught up in the day to day of things and how much our lives may or may not suck and we don’t take stock of things that we do have. I bitch about my friend not having AC. She is more concerned about keeping a roof over her head. And I am lucky to go to college and have grants and financial aid, even if I am staying in a dorm. Even with no job at college, I am lucky to have what I have been given.

     But still, her house is f—king hot!!!!

Restaurants and Character

     This was written on 28 June 2010

     My summer so far has been less than interesting. Since leaving University, I went to San Antonio and took a job, waiting tables, on the San Antonio Riverwalk. It has been O.K. I waited tables for close to eight years, previously, so this new place is, well nothing new. But it reminds me of why I went back to college. It isn’t a bad way to make a living, but it isn’t ideal. One thing about waiting tables, or any service job, is that it gives you an insight into some of the silliest people that the human race has to offer.

     Here is the thing. You can tell a lot about a person by how they act in a restaurant. I mean, people come to restaurants and can turn from the nicest person to the biggest a-holes very quickly. They treat the waitstaff shabbily. If they have children, they let them run wild and then the servers become babysitters. I see loud cell phone conversations as if that person is the only one in the place. The list can go on forever and there are plenty of websites out there that will be happy to tell you what a-holes people are in restaurants. But for me, I think how people act in a restaurant tells you how they are in life, for the most part. Allow me to explain.

     Eating with people and golf can reveal how people really are. When you spend that much time with someone in an intimate, interactive setting, there is no script. You can’t always control your surroundings. And how you react in this setting when unexpected things occur reveal a lot about yourself. And how you treat the staff usually reflects on how you treat others in life that may “service” you, for example the mail clerk, secretary gardener, etc. My big thing, in a restaurant, is how people tip. This is not because I wait tables. I look to see if you are adequately compensating someone for their time and efforts. For me, this speaks volumes about how you would conduct business. If you are willing nickel and dime or flat out screw the server or bartender that means that you don’t put value on a person’s time or service. And that means we probabkly won’t do business or be friends.

I’m serious. I have broken up friendships over this issue.