Saturday, May 12, 2007

Me Good, You Good; Me Bad, You Bad


Quote of the day:
“The tide is high, but I’m holding on.”
--Blondie

Quote of the day no. 2:
“Written history is, in fact, nothing of the kind; it is the fragmentary record of the often inexplicable actions of innumerable bewildered human beings, set down and interpreted according to their own limitations by other human beings, equally bewildered.”
--Veronica Wedgwood

Quote of the day no. 3:
“Factual truth is not the only thing that matters. It can be just as illuminating to know what people thought or pretended was true, if one can discover why they thought it, or why they had to pretend it. I do not despise a plausible legend, or totally disbelieve a miracle that everyone believed in.”
--David Howarth

As for me, I enjoy the fantasy of believing that I’m right all the time. But no one else seems to share my enjoyment.

Exactly what is legend and what is history continues to divide us. The creation stories at the beginning of the bible are a great example of this. Some people discard the stories as barbaric, others reverently worship the details and take them literally. Reasonable people find themselves somewhere between these two extremes.

Most people never read the actual stories. Just as very few people read the actual text from which the ten commandments are taken. (People seem to like the list better, even though it is a broad interpretation.)

Whatever we feel or believe about these stories, what matters is this: all people live based on the premise of either the first or the second creation story. And that’s the truth of the matter.

Premise of first story: human beings are inherently good. As in “God looked over all that he had created and saw that it was very good.”

Premise of second story (Adam and Eve): human beings are inherently bad. So bad that they were thrown out of the garden.

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