32581375 - ProfilesArchive

About Me

I'm not very complicated. I try to live in the world in good faith. I attempt to conduct myself with honor, integrity and consideration. I value a person who preserves the dignity of others and listens empathically, seeking to create understanding. I respect the individual who takes responsibilty for their circumstance and doesn't blame others or events. I admire the person who is genuinely cheerful and infects others with their happiness. These are all symptoms of living in the world in good faith and although I fall short sometimes, these are characteristics to which I aspire. I love the wilderness. The top of a mountain, an alpine meadow, a lonely windswept ridge, an ancient forest, a storm tossed beach rejuvinate me like nothing else can. I believe we, as individuals and as a species, are sustained by our fragile environment and am heartbroken at what we are doing to it. I adore my wife and after 10 years find her just as interesting, just as sexy and just as fun as when we were first discovering each other. I love my family deeply and cherish every moment we can be together. I fervently believe there is a powerful spiritual dimension to life but I am not sure about God. This doubt is not arrogant or judgmental. How comforting it would be to know that this is but a way station on a road to a much better place. But God doesn't make sense to me. If He is omnipotent, why would He allow all the hate and pain in the world? If He is not all powerful, why would I worship him? Still, I envy the faith of those who humbly believe and live the principles they believe their God delivered. I abhor those who arrogantly judge by their own faith, attempt to impose their beliefs on others and who contrive to use their religion to their secular benefit. I am uncertain about many things but this I know: The righteous are wrong. I like hot fudge sundaes, the power of a lightening storm and the ritual of shaking a good Manhattan for good friends. I am pretty optomistic and am pretty stingy in what I take seriously. I like to laugh and think there are few circumstances that can't be improved with humor. I think that much of the time, happiness is a choice.

My Interests

I'd like to meet:

Ben Franklin, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Lafayette, John Adams, Nathanial Greene, Jesus (I have questions), Aristotle, Da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Mohammed (more questions), Theordore and Franklin Roosevelt, Aldo Leopold, Chester Nimitz, Neils Bohr, Rachel Carson, Abraham Lincoln, Alfred Thayer Mahan, Martha Johnston, John Muir

My Blog

Politics

Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars arehatched. -Guy de Maupassant, short story writer and novelist (1850-1893)
Posted by on Wed, 02 May 2007 08:32:00 GMT

Perspective

Imagine a world in which generations of human beings come to believe thatcertain films were made by God or that specific software was coded by him.Imagine a future in which millions of our descendants...
Posted by on Thu, 25 Jan 2007 20:51:00 GMT

Never Give Up

I heard this on the radio the other day and it spoke volumes: Battles are won by the remnants of armys...
Posted by on Sat, 04 Nov 2006 19:26:00 GMT

Dissent

Dissent is what rescues democracy from a quiet death behind closed doors.-Lewis H. Lapham, editor (1935- )
Posted by on Mon, 16 Oct 2006 09:25:00 GMT

A Wedding

I wrote most of this in the first days following Ashley and Cliff's wedding. It was too personal for me to post then and I decided to wait to allow my feelings to stabil...
Posted by on Tue, 14 Mar 2006 19:04:00 GMT

Where We Fit

For all our conceits about being the center of the universe, we live in aroutine planet of a humdrum star stuck away in an obscure corner ... on anunexceptional galaxy which is one of about 100 billio...
Posted by on Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:54:00 GMT

Oops

OK. One of the bad things about blogs is that they leave a record...It was gently pointed out to me that Teddy Roosevelt was the envrronmentally aware Republican and Franklin was a Democrat's De...
Posted by on Wed, 14 Dec 2005 08:56:00 GMT

Wealth

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance ofthose who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. -Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd US President (18...
Posted by on Tue, 13 Dec 2005 22:08:00 GMT

Gun Shows

A week ago I went to a gun show with a friend. Being rabidly liberal, I expected to see a bunch of survivalist wackos with swatstikas sporting bash Hillary tattoos and snorting tobacco.&nb...
Posted by on Sat, 03 Dec 2005 17:22:00 GMT

Debt

I place economy among the first and most important republican virtues, andpublic debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared. To preserve ourindependence, we must not let our rulers load us with ...
Posted by on Thu, 01 Dec 2005 21:50:00 GMT