Thirteen Thursday: Boggled
1. I have three re-occurring characters on my blog; my Asheville potter son, Josh, my Scrabble playing poet friend, Mara, and my pink sneakers.
2. THIS chair is pretty strange, but THIS crooked house in Poland is truly mind boggling.
3. Blogging has been a good remedy for my shyness. My camera is like a press pass into life.
4. The word blog is in boggle.
5. President Bush uttered the word “blogs” recently on national TV when he was talking at the Virginia Tech Convocation Service in Blacksburg about how blogs brought people together after the shootings there.
6. It feels as if Virginia Tech was hit by a tsunami. The shock waves of the violence perpetrated there have rippled out to the rest of the country and the world, but those closest to the center (whether by personal involvement or proximity) are feeling the after-shock waves most intensely. Some will need help keeping their heads above board.
7. I’d like to think that #1 is a sign that my sense of humor is returning, but I pulled it out of my journal and it was written before the events of Monday.
8. I believe there’s a relationship between our country’s foreign policy and what happens domestically. In the same way that we are shaped by what we learn from our parents, when our leaders model that killing is an approved way of solving problems, I think it can’t help but be mirrored by a rise in violence at home.
9. I don’t understand why military recruiters are given free reign in our high schools when it is known that teenagers brains aren’t developed enough to fully understand the long term consequences of their decisions.
10. I think human beings are part of the environment we exist in and that we can’t help but affect it and be affected by it. The idea that all of creation is one is a religious tenant as well as a quantum physics one.
11. The death and destruction that climate change is predicted to cause is mind boggling. Some people think President Bush’s worse impeachable offense is not the elected invasion of Iraq but his denial of the reality of global warming. During his presidency he has cut funding for environmental initiatives, pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol, given power companies more of a free reign, blocked states from acting on their own to reduce carbon emissions, and generally wasted six years of time that would have been better spent facing this major global issue.
12. I believe goodness is our natural state. When we are healthy our goodness is intact. When our health is thwarted by neglect, violence, mental illness, and bad habits it’s harder to access the best in us. I believe that violence breeds more violence, just as love breeds more love. We have to choose which one we want to spread.
13. What boggles your mind?
Thursday headquarters is here. My other 13’s are here. View more 13 Thursday’s here.
April 19th, 2007 12:09 am
Very interesting T 13 and I agree fully with you ! If people couldn’t get so easily a gun then they could not shoot and such things couldn’t happen ! With a knife he could have killed maybe one person but not 32 ! In Europe it’s very, very difficult or even impossible to get a gun legally, unless you are a hunter, but then it’s only rifles. Only policemen are allowed to carry a gun.
April 19th, 2007 12:14 am
Colleen, I agree with everything you said here!!
April 19th, 2007 5:12 am
You have very good points, particularly nr. 12. I too believe goodness is our natural state so that there is still hope…I was devastated by the news and feel for those innocent people…
April 19th, 2007 5:13 am
Another wonderful TT, Colleen, not the least of which is the great picture you created for the top…
I love that chair and that house…I bet it was fantastic to watch that house being built…!
I heard one of the commentaters on a news program today say what happened in Virginia… “at the hands of a human Tsunami….” How true, how true.
And as to Bush’es Impeachable Offenses…Oh Yes! That ceretainly is a big one, and he still has almost another two years to delay the process even more….Unbelievable….It must put more money in his pocket and those of his cronies…!
And what you said about Vilolence Breeding Violence…So true…And I believe Dr. King said something very similar about Love Breeding Love…again, this is so true.
Great post, Colleen.
April 19th, 2007 7:09 am
Hi Colleen, thanks for the comments on my blog. I like your idea of the camera as a press pass to the world – nicely put! I am currently trying to get over the fear of taking photos in front of others, or even by the roadside; it’s strange, but i guess i don’t feel like a “real” photographer. Still, am working on it.
The rest of your “bogglings” ring too true with me. I too believe that we are all connected to the environment we live in, and the way we have come to treat the environment mirrors the way we have come to treat other human beings. It is inevitable that the microcosm reflects the macrocosm; therefore, it is difficult for anyone to live in a complete vacuum (and i’ve been trying for the last few months, but it doesn’t work!). When greater powers act in an irresponsible and self-concerned manner, i guess it becomes harder for individuals to feel there is worth in their own ethics and values, and easier to justify wrongful behaviour.
April 19th, 2007 7:30 am
Boggle – the headline “They Didn’t Deserve to Die.” Who does? Yet, ain’t none of us getting out of here alive.
I agree about military recruiters, but that has to do with federal funding, which doesn’t have to make sense.
April 19th, 2007 7:56 am
I’ve never played Boggle – I’ll have to look into that. And find some folks to play games with me. 🙂
April 19th, 2007 8:13 am
It sounds easy and a cliche, but I agree with you too! 🙂
My TT is about collections I have.
April 19th, 2007 8:18 am
I am still reeling from the events at VT. Love your Boggle picture! I bought Boggle to help my daughter with reading and for months, when my kids would go to sleep, my husband and I were up playing Boggle!LOL Now, we’re into crossword puzzles.:)
April 19th, 2007 8:40 am
Your post is very thought-provoking and I just wrote something a bit similar myself (before reading this post,) but in a more concise form! It’s another way to look at your Point 8.
April 19th, 2007 10:12 am
The Blacksburg/Christiansburg area has always been one of my peaceful places; not anymore.
April 19th, 2007 10:17 am
I’ve been thinking of you, Leslie and meant to pop over but then forgot. My mind is not normal even when it’s normal and now it is really not! I don’t know if people get how non-urban Blacksburg is. It’s more like a small town.
April 19th, 2007 10:53 am
Colleen, you have said so much of what is on my heart as tragedy unfolds on this campus and in lesser way, in my own life. We are so shaped by our environment. We each one have to be bring peace and love into our circles.
Susan
April 19th, 2007 11:29 am
#11 makes me glad I never had children…what boggles my mind is that I never had children!
April 19th, 2007 11:34 am
I want to cultivate love. Let’s start a garden, everyone.
April 19th, 2007 11:44 am
ohhh…. i had forgotten about boggle…..that used to be one of my favorite games!
what boggles my mind is how much the media bombards us with violence….both to young kids and adults. even cartoons these days are so dark and violent compared to the silly and comedic “violence” of old cartoons. whether it be movies, t.v. shows, music, or video games…our kids, especially boys, are bombarded with the appeal of violence.
an already broken or disturbed mind has so much to feed his fantasies on….
it reminds me of an interview i saw with ted bundy, who said his fantasies began with just seeing very “soft-core” pornography via magazines he found in his neighbor’s garbage can. and he said that even those images don’t compare to what you see everyday on mainstream t.v…..
then he went on to the next level…then the next, until he got obsessed with fetish things….and we all know the rest of the story…
April 19th, 2007 1:32 pm
4. The word blog is in boggle.
Yet, the word blog is not in my Microsoft email spellchecker’s dictionary.
That boggles my mind.
April 19th, 2007 2:28 pm
I love this 13 and I feel very boggled by everything right now!
April 19th, 2007 3:11 pm
I was going to list the numbers I agreed with, but I agreed with everything. Very succinctly and logically stated. I agree with it all, esp. 8, 9, 10 and 12.
I played today. 🙂
~S
April 19th, 2007 4:17 pm
You know, most people’s minds are not “fully developed” until their mid-twenties. You mentioned military recruiters – we can say the same about college representatives, teenage marriages and many other things that have an impact on people’s lives.
Parents should have instilled values and helped their children with decision-making abilities.
April 19th, 2007 5:01 pm
As someone who wants to be a military recruiter, I actually agree with you about the high schooler thing. It’s very hard for an 18 or 19 year old to comprehend what a sacrifice miilitary service is. I don’t ever want any of my recruits to sign that dotted line and then feel trapped. Also, I believe the Bush presidency will be looked upon as the worst administration in modern history. He is terrible at domestic policy and foreign policy and are we better off than we were 8 years ago? No way, no how.
April 19th, 2007 7:13 pm
I love Boggle it is so fun. I agree with many of your points. The more that we breed and promote bloodshed as a way of resolving issues, the more it’s ingrained as a normative behavior in society. Makes you think that maybe Gandhi was on to something with his approach. Thanks for visiting me and giving me the words of encouragment. You guys all make it look so easy!
April 19th, 2007 9:04 pm
All that you’ve said resonates with me and it boggles my mind how much more complicated our lives are getting and not in a good way so much. As joni Mithchell says, “And we’ve got to get ourselves back the the Garden.”
Apathy boggles me too. We all have to be more actively involved in the world around us.
April 19th, 2007 10:29 pm
Hello, Michele sent me.
I’m not much for those Thursday thirteens but I really liked the image that went with it. Not that I have anything against T-13’s it’s just that I don’t work that way. Of course I’ve never tried either. Hey look, a bird. Ok you get the point, I ramble.
What ai wanted to say was that I liked your list and found the observations/opinions reassuring in that not everyone on the web is a nut job.
April 19th, 2007 11:03 pm
I agree with it all except the goodness thing in everyone. I watched an interview with the LA Stalker…I can’t remember his name now..I was still living alone. Anyway he said that was a weakness with so many people, believing that everyone was good. He said he was born evil and if they let him out he would kill again and again. That some people were just born with black hearts….maybe that is just insanity too in a sense but sometimes you see people that just want to see others die and I can’t see how they could have any good in them. I think it is very rare, but it exists. Even Jack the Ripper would fit into that category, just born evil.
April 19th, 2007 11:27 pm
Thoughtful 13, similar to mine. The tragedy at Virginia Tech and then the media coverage just added to the hormones this week.
We used to play boggle a lot, but then I kept winning and my husband got bored. Maybe I should teach it to my 13 y/o.
April 19th, 2007 11:31 pm
Deana, Maybe it’s just a difference in terminology we are using. Where you might see someone as evil, I would see them a psychopath, which I view as a mental illness and I would protect myself to the fullest extent from one. I don’t think a baby is born evil, but I do think we can turn bad. Although I believe everyone is ultimately redeemable because I beleive we all have the Divine spark within us, some aren’t going to do it in this lifetime (like psychopaths once they become that way). Maybe it’s a combination of genetic tendency towards mental illness mixed with a negative environment that creates one. Here’s an excellent article I found today on how people like the VA Tech shooter get that way. Makes a lot of sense to me. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041907P.shtml
April 19th, 2007 11:55 pm
I don’t know why mental illness may rob one person of their mind and another of his soul. You mentioned many reasons, some I agree with and some I don’t. I believe there are even more… television, music, loss of a sense of personal responsibility, a lack of boundaries, instilling youth with a sense of entitlement… many things. No one can know what makes two people exposed to the same circumstances and outward pressures do completely different things.
I think this horrid act was meticulously planned and carried out. It was purposeful and executed without one ounce of humanity
present in the heart and mind of the killer. There was nothing behind those eyes. He gave himself over to pure evil.
April 20th, 2007 8:42 am
I do think our culture and violent TV play a key role, as well as isolation, bullying, and early childhood abuse. I did hear that he was known to play those violent killing video games in high school and that his aunt said they thought he was autistic (aspergers more like it). I think mind, body, and soul are all connected and when the brain is sick it can make you act in unexplainable ways. And yes, he did give himself over completely to perversion and was obviously a lost soul. I didn’t mean for my comments to imply what he did was excuseable in any way.
I’m distraught that NBC aired the video clip they did because I feel a lasting sickness from it and so, I can only imagine how those more closely involved must feel. My husband has been helping with counseling at VA tech. People’s lives have been forever changed.
April 20th, 2007 12:09 pm
The cynics answer to #9 is that is just how the military wants them, dumb, easily taken in by slogans & rhetoric & not truly aware of what they’ve just done. Even my oldest daughter, who’s reasonably mature, aware & now, scornful that a couple of her friends have just left school to join the military & get a GED along the way. Came home the day the recruiters were at FloydCHS saying ‘what they said sounds really good, if I wasn’t already sure I want to be a chef I’d consider it’ Words that chilled me to the bone I can assure you.
April 20th, 2007 5:18 pm
Well said. Not only does violence breed violence, but I really believe we hear and see it so much (and repeatedly) that we condition ourselves against by accepting more of it unconsciously, not in our heart, but in our mind.
Good begets good, but violence is so well publicized. . .
April 20th, 2007 9:46 pm
The word blog jumped out at me in Bush’s speech at Tech. I’m glad Joe has been able to help at Tech. I’m upset with NBC for airing the footage. I’ve luckily been able to avoid hearing his voice or seeing the video, but I couldn’t get around seeing the photos. I think airing the video is like giving him his trophy or paycheck. It’s the only thing he wanted out of this, for everyone to hear his story, to know who he was, to understand his perceived persecution. So airing the video was like NBC saying “so why did you kill all those student? So that we would show this video? oh yeah, okay, we’ll take care of that for you, good job.”
April 21st, 2007 7:18 pm
nice post!