OMW - Scar story

Your own scars can be a scary thing to write about. Each scar is a story, and, more importantly, a moment of vulnerability. Telling the story of a scar is, in a way, reopening that vulnerability. Especially in a public format, like a blog, to tell a scar story is to say "Here, this is part of who I am. Judge or not, as you will."

Most of my scars come from a period in time about five years ago when I was dealing with BPD - Borderline Personality Disorder. Though I have recovered (and that's another story!), I still carry the almost-shame of that time. In moments of introspection I realize that I wouldn't change anything; that time of hitting bottom helped me realize myself and define who I am. I like who I am. So, why the fear? Is the need for acceptance so ingrained that to voluntarily jeopardize it will always hold a tinge of 'wrong'?

The strongest people are those who can show weakness. This paradox is well worth remembering as we are asked to tell our scar stories. Can you laugh at yourself? Can you face where you have been and say: "What a time. It broke me. It defined me. I'm better for it."?

Niches

Quickie from OMW, then onto more post:

So, a new television network... I'm in debate with myself as to what it would be.  Like the book I'm working on, my taste is eclectic.  Would it be anime, simply good shows with fantastic stories (things like Firefly come to mind), Pagan-related, history, science...?   Our world is so diverse; it is a difficult thing to settle on only one niche.

This segues neatly into some of the thoughts I've been having recently.  The Internet is currently doing to television what television did to radio.  Beyond that however, are the cultural impacts.  Conflict - especially war - requires a Self/Other binary opposition; essentially, there has to be an Us or Them mentality.  Among the younger generations, at least in my observations from a western first-world country (certainly a limited viewpoint), this is changing.  There are still Self/Other mindsets, but, they seem to be divided along different lines than has ever come before.  People are categorizing themselves now, not on a larger national basis, but more on an individual interests basis.

To pre-counter some arguments, allow me to clarify.  Yes, people still think of themselves strongly according to their nation.  Come a national crisis, this is obvious.  The point I am making is that nation as a defining characteristic is becoming secondary.  We are, instead, hoards of individuals belonging to many, many, different groups.  

It is an obvious jump to say that this is due to technology, specifically that of interconnecting.  The Internet is the behemoth of this but one cannot discount also cell phones, world broadcast media, and widespread publishing in all forms.  Like movable type, the long-term cultural ramificaitons are worth a life-time of study and just as fogged to us as to those in the 15th century.  We are in many ways in an information Renaissance.

Thanks Alice! (And, finally, a post!)

Many thanks to Alice for the One Minute Writing link - (for those interested, here's the link: http://oneminutewriter.blogspot.com/ )  So, here's today's...

There are certain riffs in music that I never mind looping in my head.  The bass line from Joker is one such.  Now for a tangent.

I have to wonder how much of our minds are our own.  Barring even the un- and sub-conscious, there are many examples of ways the mind defies what we consciously want it to do.  Getting a song stuck in one's head, various mental illnesses, rash impulses, that whatever one cannot seem to stop thinking about.  Now, true, the mind can be trained through various means - education, meditation, and so on - but the lack of attention often paid (or not, in this case) to a core factor of one's individuality is startling.

Wheels, part deux

When I spoke of diversity as life, I was speaking on a level much larger than the individual, or even the community/species - thus the ecosystem example.  To borrow from Quinn again, take for instance a system that involves one type of plant, one type of herbivore, and one type of carnivore. If any of these three die, all three die.  In order for there to be survival (in the greater sense) there needs to be diversity; multiple types of plants the herbivores can eat, multiple herbivores that thrive in different conditions etc. etc.

Now, to bring this back to the round/square wheels thing - yes, as Stirling posted in the comments, the round wheels are optimal and thus the most likely solution.  However, I'm going to have to disagree with the idea of there being only one optimum solution while agreeing with it (bear with that contradiction in terms for a moment.)

It all depends on what the goals are.  To repeat the quote: "All who make wheels, make them round."  Making a round wheel is reliant, to a degree, upon the intention to make a wheel.  If the intention is different - say, locomotion instead - the results begin to vary.  I realize this seems self-evident.  Where importance comes in is in realizing when we're trying to make wheels and when we're just attempting to move from point A to point Z.  

Part trois coming.

Square Wheels

While reading one of S.M. Stirling's fantastic novels (Go! Buy! Start with Dies the Fire) I ran across a quote that jarred me with its validity.

"Those who make wheels, make them round."

Stirling places this line in the context of a religious discussion, where it is indeed apt, but upon reflection I began to see the enormity of scope it can reference.

The idea encompassed goes beyond that of unconscious similarities in the methods or results of those with the same general goal.  It makes me wonder about the finiteness - or infinity - of creation, creativity, and diversity.

Diversity is life.  One needs only look at any ecosystem to realize and understand that.  An ecosystem without diversity will not survive.  (For more on this idea, read Daniel Quinn's incredible works: Ishmael, My Ishmael, Story of B, Beyond Civilization, and The Man Who Grew Young.) 

More to follow in future edits; just throwing this idea up in a mini-post to start some wheels (square wheels?) turning.