Fate, destiny, luck.  Call it whatever you want, but I believe they all boil down to one thing: absolving oneself of personal responsibility.   Sure, random things do happen.  Entropy is just a law of the universe.  However, under it all I believe that we are agents of our own will.  We are free to act or be acted upon, and reap the consequences and repercussions of our actions.  This does not annul my belief in a divine creator.  I believe in a just creator...

We use them daily. Often even without thinking about it. Many times we use them innocently. But just as often the epithets we use give a name to our hate. Not necessarily derogatory, epithets can act simply to describe something or someone. In this function they are surely useful. Yet how often do we fall into the trap of using them in a disparaging manner? Far too often I would assert. They come in all shapes and sizes: some blatantly derogatory, others simply descriptive. For e...

Society is taking a turn for the worse. Many turns for the worse if you ask me. There are nearly countless ways in which society as a whole is declining, and I could write blogs and blogs about each one. Today is not the day though. There is one particular aspect that I find most disturbing and has disastrous ramifications for our future. Abdication of responsibility. The current societal mindset would censure anyone who emphasizes responsibility and accountability for our own act...

Note : This article is something of a follow up to one I wrote yesterday regarding our societal celebrity worship. All too often we hear about someone famous doing something stupid. We all do stupid things (though I can't help but think celebrities are more stupid prone), but most of ours don't get broadcast all over the place. When questioned about their actions many spout the popular refrain "I'm not a role model". Wrong. But perhaps they are for the wrong reasons. Whethe...

This is a counter to my previous whine session, of which I am still a little embarrassed. Life is hard. Work sucks. Nothing is fair. I'm tired. Wah, wah, wah. We all have felt the above at some point. It may be we are feeling that way right now. I know I am. But wallowing never lifted one up. The more you move around in the muck, the more entrenched in it you become. Sometimes there is only one answer, one solution. Tried and true, I have found it never fails. Lose your...

I am far too impatient. As Neil Peart once penned (in a really great Rush song) "The point of the journey is not to arrive". So it would seem I need to reevaluate and ask myself just what the point is then. I find myself rushing to the end. It doesn't matter what it is, but I just don't enjoy the journey the way I really ought to. I read a book and find myself skimming descriptive passages simply to get to the action or the pivotal plot point. I play games and once it gets tough f...

Diversity is a popular buzz word these days. But I wonder if people truly know what it means. Perhaps we know, but just choose to ignore. It certainly wouldn't be the first time society has known the truth and willingly turned away. So just what is diversity? Dictionary.com defines it as 1 . 1. The fact or quality of being diverse; difference. 2. A point or respect in which things differ. 2 . Variety or multiformity: “Charles Darwin saw in the diversity of species the pr...

Lurking beneath the placid surface of loch BlueDev is an elusive monster. A mighty beast, both fierce and cunning, it has been dormant for a time. Lately, though, the water has been stirring, ripples carried across the surface, hinting at the disturbance the lies beneath the surface. Here and there a glimpse of the thick hide can be seen, peeking above the dark glass, a horn, the tip of an appendage. The monster awakens. And this is not a good thing. Long ago the monster frequently ...

Trials. Not a day goes by that we don't experience them in some fashion or another. They come in all shapes and sizes: alone or in groups, heavy to bear or hardly worth a notice, brief as flicker or apparently interminable. Yet no matter the size of them, each one shapes us in some small way. What I find most fascinating is the power that we have to decide how that shaping will occur. Too often we find ourselves powerless to these shapings. What makes this all the more tragic is the...

I like hot fudge. Quite a bit actually. While I'm not a chocolate freak, hot fudge really does something for me. But nothing like what it does for my daughter. She's 5, she is in kindergarten, and she is amazing. I don't give her the credit she deserves often. But she really is. And there is a lot she can teach me. Like hot fudge. Life isn't all roses when you are five. You have homework, have to put up with two busy parents, a little sister who is old enough to play with now, b...