Monthly Archives: June 2007

“Forget it, Juan, I’m not going to fall for that one again.”

“Kiss my nose”.

Gracias, Hysidro!

Now this is just a thought, and I haven’t fully developed it or decided exactly where I stand. But, I think that the common sayings about the importance of history – “we must remember”, “we must never forget”, “people must know where they come from to know where they are going”, or as Marcus Garvey said, “a people without a knowledge of their past and culture is like a tree without roots” – is actually overstated, possibly even misguided, and ultimately destructive.

I have always had the suspicion that our traditions and cultures are only one or two generation’s old, even if they are links in an ongoing chain of traditions a thousand years old. History is more part of our collective imagination than it is an intrinsic reality. Thus, when we think we act or behave in a certain way, it is not because we belong to a culture that has been acting this way for centuries, but because we have been trained to do so by our present surroundings. But this is probably something for a different post.

What I am actually trying to ask is whether the need to “remember” history does not in fact simply renew old hatreds, bind us to the legacy of something that we in fact did not cause or establish, and thus limit our abilities to be unique and autonomous. Just as sons should not be forced to pay for the sins of their fathers, what is the real benefit in knowing history? To avoid the pitfalls of the past, or to force us to relive them generation after generation? We are born clean slates, so why shouldn’t we be allowed to live in a clean, new world. It seems to me that the baggage of history too often predetermines our fate. So, if I didn’t know where I came from, I would be truly free to decide where I wanted to go. Maybe I don’t want to remember the Alamo.

As I have eluded to in the past, the problem with people talking, or conversation in general, is that it can be very distracting and get in the way of my own thoughts.

Alright, so I don’t have the best interior design skills, but it was time to make a change, aesthetics aside. I spend way too much time and money on music to be listening to all my favorite songs on my computer’s speakers. Still, I don’t want to make the investment right now into an expensive Hi-Fi system. So here is what I did. Continue reading →

I just saw this news video on how Americans are now becoming the shortest people in the industrialized world, while historically we were the tallest. This is not due to, as many would think, a change in demographics and immigration, but rather to environmental factors such as poor eating habits and a lack of exercise.

We just can’t get anything right anymore!