Be a Good Boy Scout?

OK, here is my rant for today: Please do not come to the Anarchy Conversation unprepared. Remember that we are all schooled in this Fine Country to conform, maybe not to the same level as in, say, Japan, but face it: you are not prepared if you let things rip like: "...you contradict yourself greatly by proclaiming the virtues of anarchy and "the goodness" of people......the second an anarchist starts thinking about the well-being of another 'folk' ...anarchy goes right out of that proverbial window.... ...so you really are not proclaiming anarchy at all but something else..." (Smile, Pe, you're on Candid Blogger.) I will respond with something like, "I do not contradict myself. Here is a fine definition of anarchy for your perusal: 'a theory that regards the absence of all direct or coercive government as a political ideal and that proposes the cooperative and voluntary association of individuals and groups as the principal mode of organized society.'" (Which I did. JK Rowling, that is a definition ripped off directly from Dictionary.com.)

I don't want to make this a primer of some sort so will just finish up with a little tip from Paul Eltzbacher, author of "The Great Anarchists: Ideas and Teachings of Seven Major Thinkers." Yeah, I'm not in there. "...be equally at home in jurisprudence, in economics, and in philosophy."

And read your Proudhon.

I'm done ranting! Some things have been going on that warrant complimentary attention, or at least attention of some sort not derogatory, so I'm finished.

For those of you who think Michelle Obama's hairdo makes her look scarily like Condy Rice, I have a new stylist who could work wonders with his German technique, for far less than a John Edwards 400, about whom we perhaps ought to tell her. He used to be a semi-driver. By this I mean he used to drive big trucks, not that he used to half-drive. Ain't life grand? (See conversations with Tim and Susan, below.)

The past couple days I've been making friends on Facebook. I mean, making friends with people I knew from my Summit days. Or from after mine and during theirs. Weird. But good. It's interesting to watch people move around. I started to say "on," but what does that mean, people move "on?" "On" where?

I also have had a Very Important Discussion with one of my oldest friends, Tim. I sent him a little Happy Birthday message and received a discouraged reply, so I struck up a conversation. One of Tim's greatest assets is his ability and willingness to speak from both head and heart simultaneously, which makes our occasional verbal encounters very rich and, it seems, cathartic for both of us. In this case, the discussion was, roughly, about missed opportunity. As is often the case when we get in touch, Tim has been mulling thoughts similar to my own on certain personal subjects I won't list on a blog post because these are things only he and I discuss, and are meant to remain that way.

I had a conversation with my friend Susan while hiking Saturday late afternoon, too, that was similar in message, a reminder that I'm a hopeless optimist, but I believe it's right to be thankful for the opportunities and challenges we have in front of us and not to spend too much time dwelling on what's been lost or what we've never had, or what bad thing might happen to us. If I were to collapse on the floor like my cousin-sister Cheri did at fifteen and learned I had cancer and was going to die, maybe I would think and feel differently, but I hope not. I have been with people close, friends and family, who have dealt with that very condition; some have lived longer than others. And if it were me, I'd want to be grouped with Susan and Monica and Cheri and those who've found a quality of life as long as they've had it, rather than cowering in fear, waiting for the next shoe to drop. What if it never does? How miserable... And talk about missed opportunity...

Hey! Who shapeshifted me into Oprah... or whatever other Inspirational Woman comes to mind? (Obviously I'm not well-versed in this realm. I'll just hang it up now. Where did that come from? Yuck. Just vote for me.)

Speaking of cancer, too bad about Ted Kennedy.