Rule number 1: Be fearless

Fear is a necessity. Without it, knowledge alone would protect us from the dangers of our world. In lieu of said knowledge we would fall prey to our own ignorance instead of instinctively fleeing from danger.

But instincts require adaptation in order to really work. Before humans understood fire, its pretty likely that we'd run from it if we saw it. Obviously today you don't find many people igniting the gas burners on the kitchen stove only to suddenly flee the house on the instinct of potential harm.

Its knowledge that does that. Over time, knowledge augments the instincts of a person, rendering what should become harmless over time into something that no longer scares us.

It's debatable whether or not human beings pass actual knowledge to our offspring, but its pretty much proven that fight/flee instincts are passed genetically from one generation to the next. In that sense, our knowledges ability to alter the fear instinct is in a sense the passage of information through the ages.

But fear is more pervasive for most. Fear dictates much of what we do - or fail to do. It is not simply the 'omg scary! run!' instinct that is unhealthy to us. The gripping, unreasonable fears that we cannot overcome that do the most damage, and the currency is more often than not missed opportunity, regret, or loss.

I'm going to give fearless a shot, and try to do something every day that scares me. I'll let you know how it goes.

Spare the Lawrence Welk, spoil the child

We're really not very creative when it comes to punishment. Children, criminals, even your garden variety traffic offense is treated in a pretty myopic way when it comes to justice.

The Romans said 'Let the punishment fit the crime.' but I think that was fairly short sighted too. Better to create punishments that really look at the crime and figure out the best deterrent to keep the individual from repeating whatever infraction they are guilty of.

Children shouldn't be spanked I don't think, although if a child has a problem understanding what a victim of violence goes through, it seems logical that limited exposure to it might be educational.

I hate to say that, but its no less horrifying then the notion that a child never truly learns to appreciate the dangers of heat or fire until what? Right, until they burn themselves.

People might argue that violence begets violence, and certainly to a degree that is true. However, if you apply the 'burning yourself' model of thinking, isn't it impossible to learn that violence is wrong if you aren't somehow involved in it?

I realize that to an extent that is caveman thinking, but heres the thing. I was spanked as a kid, hell, I even got the belt. The bottom line is I barely even remember it, and I'm totally not a violent person. The fact is, I recall more humor in my 'spanking stories' than I do anything else.

I think people of the baby boomer generation feel that we may be ruining our children with lax attitudes towards discipline. As I've heard many many times now, 'go to your room' is no longer a painful excursion to a bland, boring space. More often today, it's a trip to a parentless hassle-free land where your iPod, computer, PS2 and more await.

What do you think?

At least you have feet.

I was watching Joel Osteen with my daughter one day. This is not a guy we watch on a regular basis, he just happened to be on. Personally, I like the guy and his sort of 'feel good about things' philosophy. It also helps that despite being a evangelical show, he doesn't do a lot of Bible banging, I really dislike that.

In this particular sermon, Joel talked about how we tend to look at the negative side of things, and how we dwell within them despite there being far worse situations that we could fall prey to.

Of course, my daughter and I became very extremist about his ideas that you shouldn't be too unhappy about being stuck in traffic because at least you have a car. Adding that line of reasoning, adding in the ridiculous and doing your best to mimic the esteemed Mr. Osteen makes for a real side splitter.

Some of the highlights were;

"You might be unhappy that your shoes are worn out and don't fit anymore, but at least your feet haven't been gnawed off by weasels in your sleep."

"You might be sad that you have to eat your broccoli, but at least nobody has snapped off your lower jaw with a crowbar."

"You might think you have it rough because you have to wear contact lenses, but at least nobody has scooped out your eyes with a melon baller and filled your eye sockets with concrete..."

And so on. Pretty soon we were laughing so hysterically we couldn't get through any more parodies.

Thank you Mr. Osteen. Your message was as correct as it was a source of much light hearted humor.

Basically good.

If the world is such a rough and tough place to live these days then how come we trust each other so much?

Its true. Its actually amazing just how much we trust people we would probably cross the street to avoid in person.

In Chicago, by way of example, drivers are certifiable. They are seriously disturbed people, and if they happen to be driving a cab they can actually raise that bar to a whole new level.

But you walk right in front of them.

Forget about the fact that a human being you do not know is piloting a hunk of metal and plastic that could flatten you like a pancake.

Aren't we always complaining about auto manufacturers? Why is it that we'll walk across an intersection then, guarded only by the stoic red light that we all know physically prevents vehicles from passing through - even if the brakes fail. Even if the driver loses control.

No, its because we all have an intrinsic level of trust, perhaps its built in.

We may not trust that the bill is correct at the local restaurant, but we trust that people we won't even see with our own eyes won't poison us, and have taken good care of the food they serve.

One might argue that we are simply raised as the sheep are raised, glibly going about our lives numb and unknowing to the dangers that lie all around us.

I think its something else, something really really good about humans.

I think this phenomena might do more to prove our basic goodness then many other philosophies.

Don't get me wrong. There are a lot of things and people I simply do not trust. There is, after all, a fine line between trust and stupidity.

But isn't it interesting how many things we do that place inordinate amounts of trust into things we do not know or understand?

Because thats the way it is.