4/10/03
I wish that I had a way to verify answers to the many questions in my head. It'd be nice to know what the questions mean, too. I'm good at internal debate. So good, in fact, I can convince myself of just about anything, if I put my mind to it. I'm good at external debate, too, but I've not had a chance to polish those skills in a while. I can honestly say that I've not seen a debate community of any sustaining value yet on LJ. I've seen a lot of argument communities; I think that many of those are stuck in an ad hoc or ad hominem school.

I wonder if it's a bad idea that I'm checking the Iraqometer daily, but avoiding most of the news coverage? I'm trying my best to get unbiased information, but it seems that it doesn't exist. I don't want the opinions of newscasters, I just want information, cut and dried. It's bad enough that the meter gets some of its info from sources that I consider to be weak.

I'm not one for being embarrassed by knowing that others are critically aware of me. Not sure if that's a strength or a weakness, or both. It's true that very few people have opinions that matter to me, but I take those opinions very seriously, even if those precious few don't realize it.

There’s a quote by John Donne...overstated and clichéd, but still quite accurate to my mind right now.

No man is an island. Entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

I need to remember in my heart that everyone is a part of the whole. It can be really easy for me to discount the value of others in the scheme of my life, save for a few major players.