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Sunday, November 18, 2012

The Death of Common Sense | Lori Borgman | Sunday, March 15, 1998

This was written in 1998, but it makes even more sense today.

Three yards of black fabric enshroud my computer terminal. I am mourning the passing of an old friend by the name of Common Sense. His obituary reads as follows: Common Sense, aka C.S., lived a long life, but died from heart failure at the brink of the millennium. No one really knows how old he was, his birth records were long ago entangled in miles and miles of bureaucratic red tape. Known affectionately to close friends as Horse Sense and Sound Thinking, he selflessly devoted himself to a life of service in homes, schools, hospitals and offices, helping folks get jobs done without a lot of fanfare, whooping and hollering.

Rules and regulations and petty, frivolous lawsuits held no power over C.S. A most reliable sage, he was credited with cultivating the ability to know when to come in out of the rain, the discovery that the early bird gets the worm and how to take the bitter with the sweet.

C.S. also developed sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (the adult is in charge, not the kid) and prudent dietary plans (offset eggs and bacon with a little fiber and orange juice).

A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, the Technological Revolution and the Smoking Crusades, C.S. survived sundry cultural and educational trends including disco, the men's movement, body piercing, whole language and new math. C.S.'s health began declining in the late 1960s when he became infected with the If-It-Feels-Good, Do-It virus.

In the following decades, his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of overbearing federal and state rules and regulations and an oppressive tax code. C.S. was sapped of strength and the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, criminals received better treatment than victims and judges stuck their noses in everything from Boy Scouts to professional baseball and golf.

His deterioration accelerated as schools implemented zero-tolerance policies. Reports of 6-year-old boys charged with sexual harassment for kissing classmates, a teen suspended for taking a swig of Scope mouthwash after lunch, girls suspended for possessing Midol and an honor student expelled for having a table knife in her school lunch were more than his heart could endure.

As the end neared, doctors say C.S. drifted in and out of logic but was kept informed of developments regarding regulations on low-flow toilets and mandatory air bags. Finally, upon hearing about a government plan to ban inhalers from 14 million asthmatics due to a trace of a pollutant that may be harmful to the environment, C.S. breathed his last.

Services will be at Whispering Pines Cemetery. C.S. was preceded in death by his wife, Discretion; one daughter, Responsibility; and one son, Reason. He is survived by two step-brothers, Half-Wit and Dim-Wit.

Memorial Contributions may be sent to the Institute for Rational Thought. Farewell, Common Sense. May you rest in peace.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

WEEK #59 (7-1-12 to 7-7-12): The Seven Deadlies: I chose Pride

“Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity, to what we would have others think of us.”
~ Jane Austen


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“Let your actions always speak for you, but be forever on guard against
the terrible traps of false pride and conceit that can halt your
progress. The next time you are tempted to boast, just place your fist
in a full pail of water, and when you remove it, the hole remaining
will give you a correct measure of your importance.” ~ Og Mandino



“What good is social class and status? Truthfulness is measured within. Pride in one's status is like poison - holding it in your hand and eating it, you shall die.”
~ Sri Guru Granth Sahib


“The truest characters of ignorance are vanity, and pride and arrogance.” ~ Samuel Butler



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“No one ever choked to death swallowing his pride”



“Temper gets you into trouble. Pride keeps you there.”



“Pride comes before a fall” ~ Proverb



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“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.” ~ Saint Augustine



“In general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes.” ~ John Ruskin



“Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real” ~ Thomas Merton



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“And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin is pride that apes humility.” ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge



“My pride fell with my fortunes.” ~ William Shakespeare



“Pride is an admission of weakness; it secretly fears all competition and dreads all rivals.” ~ Fulton J. Sheen



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“Vanity is the polite mask of pride.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche



“The sin of pride may be a small or a great thing in someone's life, and hurt vanity a passing pinprick, or a self-destroying or ever murderous obsession.” ~ Iris Murdoch



“The offspring of riches: Pride, vanity, ostentation, arrogance, tyranny” ~
Mark Twain



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“Pride is the master sin of the devil, and the devil is the father of lies” ~ Edwin Hubbel Chapin



“Pride slays thanksgiving, but an humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher



“Pride attaches undue importance to the superiority of one's status in the eyes of others; And shame is fear of humiliation at one's inferior status in the estimation of others. When one sets his heart on being highly esteemed, and achieves such rating, then he is automatically involved in fear of losing his status.” ~ Lao Tzu



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“The Bible and several other self
help or enlightenment books cite the Seven Deadly Sins. They are:
pride, greed, lust, envy, wrath, sloth, and gluttony. That pretty much
covers everything that we do, that is sinful... or fun for that
matter.” ~ Dave Mustaine


“Pride is a vice, which pride itself inclines every man to find in others, and to overlook in himself” ~ Samuel Johnson


“Pride the first peer and president of hell.” ~ Daniel Defoe



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“The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell” ~ Simone Weil



“Pride that dines on vanity, sups on contempt”
~ Benjamin Franklin



“Humility and knowledge in poor clothes excel pride and ignorance in costly attire.” ~ William Penn



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“Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up.” ~ Mohandas Gandhi



“Five enemies of peace inhabit with us / avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.” ~ Francesco Petrarch




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“Be modest! It is the kind of pride least likely to offend.” ~ Jules Renard



“The avenues in my neighborhood are Pride, Covetousness and Lust; the cross streets are Anger, Gluttony, Envy and Sloth. I live over on Sloth, and the style on our street is to avoid the other thoroughfares.” ~
John Chancellor



“Where in this wide world can man find nobility without pride, friendship without envy, or beauty without vanity?”
~ Ronald Duncan



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“Pride ruined the angels.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson


“A proud man is always looking down
on things and people; and, of course, as long as you're looking down,
you can't see something that's above you.” ~ C.S. Lewis



“Pride in social status is empty; pride in personal glory is useless.” ~ Sri Guru Granth Sahib



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If this looks familiar it's because it was originally my submission to the GBE on MySpace back on 5-23-09. That week's topic was Pride.

The GBE, or Group Blogging Experience was great fun, and so is the GBE2. 


Thanks, Bethie.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

I've just seen a face...


I've just seen a face,
I can't forget the time or place
Where we just met.
She's just the girl for me
And I want all the world to see
We've met, mmm-mmm-mmm-m'mmm-mmm.



The Beatles sang that and now I want the whole world to hear. I did meet someone and I think she is the one, yes, I really do. I have found a very sexy lady. Not everyone can see the beauty I see. They do not see her giving heart, her gorgeous eyes, her caring love. But I do.


And not only is she all that, but she is also an exhibitionist. Boy, am I a lucky man.

And I'm a happy one.

And is there a better place to announce and proclaim to "all the world" my love than on here? I think not.










 

I used to spend my days on a bench by the ocean.  

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Or on my boat.

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Or on the shore of the lake fishing.

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 But then I saw her...

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Isn't she pretty?

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 Here is her exhibitionist side

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And here we are together, going at it. *wink-wink*
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 Damn, I'm lucky!!!