“No snowflake in an avalanche thinks it is responsible.” – Voltaire
I loved the example of something that contributes to a catastrophe in such a small way that it is impossible to blame that thing. Nonetheless without that one thing, person, ceo, bureaucrat, etc. and a million more like him/her the catastrophe would never have taken place.
So, what is the lesson when you really can’t place individual blame?Is it to not let bankers gather in large groups at resort spas? Maybedon’t let too many talking heads on TV at one time? Or maybe weshould do what people in the mountains do to prevent avalanches,shoot a cannon in their general direction and disperse the danger!
“Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.” – Voltaire
That’s all, just remember to sing. It makes the rowing easier. However, if you sing any Barry Manilow songs sharks will come around your boat and eat you.
“The longer we dwell on our misfortunes the greater is their power to harm us.” – Voltaire
The key here is that if you have had a misfortune it obviously is in the past. If it is in the past then dwelling on it probably is not helping you prepare for the future very wellEvaluating what led to the misfortune is important. But dwelling on the woe attached to it has to be put on the shelf in short order otherwise it starts to influence your current life and thus your future.
One thing I have learned over the years from reading a lot of global and personal histories and biographies and witnessing 50+ years of them myself is that there is ALWAYS a rationalization.
It doesn’t matter how ludicrous the idea might be, how completely untenable or self-destructive, how mean or violent, how opposite of logic or sanity it is, if someone believes it, they will rationalize it. Most all of Germany rationalized Nazism. Mao and Pol Pot rationalized their ‘cultural revolutions’ that killed millions and left their countries destitute. Individuals rationalize addictions and violence and control and gossip and destructive machinations against others. They make the most absurd of conduct make sense in a perverse logic they are depending on.
Always watch out for that in your own life, it is insidious and no one is immune from it unless they have intellectual safe guards against it. What are those safe guards? Solid and proven principles that will keep you safe from outrageous and absurd claims, beliefs and behaviors. What are those principles? There isn’t one set. There are many and it is up to each person to find them for themselves. That is a topic for another blog posting though.
“If God Made Us In His Image, We Have Certainly Returned The Compliment.” Voltaire
Usually this quote is used as a negative statement about God and man. But read the story below and perhaps you will feel that just sometimes the image God creates of us and we create of God reflects well on us both.
I received a wonderful email yesterday from a delightful woman in Chicago. She is doing some advanced academic work in Theology and wanted permission to use 5 of my napkin drawings in her work and in presentations regarding peace building in Africa. I was happy to make the connection and give permission.
A number of wonderful things about it. She is in graduate school but offered to pay for the rights to use the images. Think of how many profit making enterprises don’t have the courtesy to ask permission to use an image much less offer to pay. I took her up on the willingness to pay since I believe they are worth the money and she will feel more freedom to use them as she sees fit in her work. She was telling me my work had value and was willing to prove it in a concrete way by paying me money that could help me in ways a mere complement could not.
The other wonderful thing is that she is using them in a serious thesis regarding peace building in the world and later in presentations regarding that same thing in Africa, where peace building is a hard road for all. It really made my day to know that.
They are just silly drawings on napkins, but good ideas well stated are powerful and transformative no matter where they are found.
