Some Men...

Thanks to alert student, Mayra, for sending me this image. I'm going to put it on my office door. So, according to our friend, Aristotle, the work of humanity is that of Logos (articulate speech), reason (being open to persuasion), critical thinking (although he didn't have such a buzz-worthy name for it as that), and work.

It seems to me that this makes for fine summary of our course. Ideally in our small group activities as well as in our final presentations, we'll each being using our capacity for articulate speech to both create and analyze arguments (the skill for which I'll hopefully be working us through this coming week).  Second, I trust that we come to this course with our minds prepared to be persuaded, open to the notion that our maps are incomplete, that we have plenty to learn. Third, what even is this buzz-term "critical thinking"?  For me, at its simplest, it means using your brain. Slowly. It's not memorization or repetition. It's not rote. It's not multiple-choice. It's essay, but not easy. It is the final term, "work".  And I believe almost more strongly than anyone I know, in the real value of the work part of college. The struggle, as I wrote about in my "This I Believe" essay, is what makes the vista worth it.

I justify this course in Ethics and Argumentation quoting Aristotle in speaking of rhetorical skills and persuasive ability: "For he who uses things of this kind justly, may benefit others in the greatest degree, and by using them unjustly may effect the greatest injury." Thus, let us do good for ourselves and for others in our quest to discern.

This I Believe January 2015

 I believe in working to get over the next hill: the struggle and the vista. There was painfully little to occupy a hyperactive pre-teen in the rural Ohio, rust-belt, single-stoplight argi-village where I grew up. In my early teens, time spent at the local swimming pool was uncomfortably formative.

While my peers were growing pecs, I was…well let's just say, "not". And while the coolly air-conditioned library was equally formative, it was no place for an out-going, energetic explorer to spend his summer.

I acquired a map of out county, and with my compass, inscribed 5, 10, and 20 mile radii circles around our village and set out on my 10-speed. I would eventually visit all the other little dots on that map.

Almost every day of summer was spent, accompanied only by my thoughts, the smell of field and livestock, the mid-July sun, and the occasional truck or tractor. Straight as an arrow, mile after mile, up and down, on and on to all the other little villages like mine. I'd ride around their small town, look in their store, and get a slug of water at their baseball diamond or their library. Then, I'd ride home and insert a small colored pin into the map marking the goal I'd just accomplished: Attica, Brokensword, Republic, Sycamore.

I believe life to be an ever-expanding map full of hills to climb, roads to follow, and villages to visit. The sun will often be on your back. You will sweat. You will work. You'll often be alone. But, that's what's need to reach the next, small goal, to see what the world looks like from the next vista Reading a classic novel is a visa. Finishing the next household project is a vista. Leveling up is a vista.

I believe that by going further on your map in one direction or another, you become better than you were before the journey began. To see more of the map is better than seeing less. Home is a comfortable prison. However, I also feel the drive to get up the next hill presses you. Without self-motivation, there's little anyone else can do for you. And I must consider the ride home. Little is as sweet and satisfying as coasting down a winding, steep hill with the wind in your hair, on the way home. There are small rewards in life.

I believe that with diligence and ardor you become your best, more authentic self, closer to God, and closer to your neighbor. I believe with an ever-expanding map, you gain an ever-expanding understanding of the universe and I think that's a pretty good life's goal.