It has been very cold this week. Whenever it gets like this I end up thinking about basic human instincts. Survival. Get food. Get warm. The other day my father-in-law's home heating system broke down. Not good. He's eighty-one years old. Thankfully, he has options, family, resources, etc. But not everyone does. I've always thought that societies should be evaluated according to how well they attend to the needs of its least fortunate members. I often think that organizing and fulfilling our collective responsibilities in a free and open society should not be quite so complicated. But apparently it is. We should do so much better. Ultimately it's the temperature inside that matters. I find it to be a constant struggle. Maybe I too am being affected by the cold. Stay inside. Listen to the Greeks. Go back to the Mediterranean. Fire. Heat. The Pleasure. Pleasure: "...the absence of pain in the body and of trouble in the soul." Epicurus, I'm still trying, struggling to not struggle. (God is quite the humorist.) Today I've reread Epicurus' Letter to Menoeceus. It's easy to see the importance of translation here. Wouldn't it be fun to be able to read that in the original Greek! (In the photo: in Ronda back in November, 2008. Another cold day.)
1.09.2010
Cold
It has been very cold this week. Whenever it gets like this I end up thinking about basic human instincts. Survival. Get food. Get warm. The other day my father-in-law's home heating system broke down. Not good. He's eighty-one years old. Thankfully, he has options, family, resources, etc. But not everyone does. I've always thought that societies should be evaluated according to how well they attend to the needs of its least fortunate members. I often think that organizing and fulfilling our collective responsibilities in a free and open society should not be quite so complicated. But apparently it is. We should do so much better. Ultimately it's the temperature inside that matters. I find it to be a constant struggle. Maybe I too am being affected by the cold. Stay inside. Listen to the Greeks. Go back to the Mediterranean. Fire. Heat. The Pleasure. Pleasure: "...the absence of pain in the body and of trouble in the soul." Epicurus, I'm still trying, struggling to not struggle. (God is quite the humorist.) Today I've reread Epicurus' Letter to Menoeceus. It's easy to see the importance of translation here. Wouldn't it be fun to be able to read that in the original Greek! (In the photo: in Ronda back in November, 2008. Another cold day.)
