Wise Words From Good Ole' Sammy
The interesting thing about wisdom is that it always remains a constant through changing times. Maybe that's the difference between advice & wisdom.
Someone could suggest to me that I might not want to drink and drive. And that's great advice for our times. However, I might not necessarily consider that great wisdom. For one, a few hundred years ago, high speed vehicles didn't exist. And I don't think there were too many drunk related horse accidents. At least anything that would alarm the nation and consider it to be a severe problem.
Now allow me to share with you a quote to illustrate my point on the differences. English writer, Izaak Walton, once said, "Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God, and value it next to a good conscience; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of; a blessing that money cannot buy."
Now that there is some wisdom. Despite the times, words like that can never fail. Those words remain true for the first people on earth and they certainly will hold true for the last. To me, that is one of the prerequisites to true wisdom.
This now brings me to the purpose of this post. A coworker of mine once shared with me a quote that he keeps in his wallet all the time. It's not necessarily the type of quote that once needs to carry with him at all times, but nonetheless the quote holds extremely true despite the generation that hears it.
The quote was taken from the English poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who has been dead for well over a century. The quote goes as follows....
"Every reform, however necessary, will by weak minds be carried to an excess, which will itself need reforming."
When it was first told to me, the quote itself didn't make much sense. It wasn't until I applied it recently did I see the true wisdom that Coleridge shared.
Perhaps you might recall the story of a woman from Texas. This woman must have been fertile for she gave birth to five children all by the age of 36. For reasons that are still not clearly known, one spring day in Texas, this woman decided to take her children one by one in the bathroom and drown them in the bathtub. After drowning some of them, she placed them in her bed and covered them up.
Her oldest child, who was 7 at the time, asked his mother what was wrong. He then must have felt that trouble was brewing because he turned and ran for his life. His mother, already having killed four of his siblings chased him down through the house and finally caught him. With him kicking and screaming, this deranged mother dragged her last remaining child into the tub and drowned him. Not once, but twice did he fight through her clutches and manage to come up for air. But his efforts proved useless. He too, like his brothers and one sister, died in the bathroom by the hands of their own mother.
Thereafter, Andrea Yates confessed to police what she had done. A trial was under way on the basis that she might have been insane and proven guilty only by insanity. Well, duh...of course the woman was insane to kill her 5 children. That does not necessarily imply that she should be let off on the easy street because of it. But that's another topic for another day.
The trial came to a close and she was later found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. She was not to be eligible until parole until the age of 77. Or so we thought......
Not more than two weeks ago did a weak minded judge overturn this conviction. What makes this story completely absurd was the reasoning for it. Apparently one of the prosecution witnesses lied on the witness stand about a TV show's episode that didn't exist. Yes, you read me correctly. Because of a television episode that didn't exist this woman's conviction of drowning her five children into a bathtub was overturned.
By all means, allow me to requote Coleridge:
"Every reform, however necessary, will by weak minds be carried to an excess, which will itself need reforming."
There is something severely wrong with our judicial system. It clearly lacks both common sense and strong minded individuals. How fucking retarded does one have to be to see such a case and overturn such a conviction on the basis of a television program that didn't even air! Kudos to you Judge Dipshit, you just proven yourself to be just one fine example of how our system is fatally flawed.
I know I speak of the impossible when I suggest my correction for the system. Laws need not be so black and white. Laws need not be taken literally. Common sense should be implemented amongst the population. And more importantly, those in the position to review, create, and uphold the hall should do so under the same common sense.
Allow me to use an example to better illustrate where I'm coming from here. Every household has their set of standard rules that all must be followed. Some don't have to be mentioned for they are automatically implied. Such unspoken rules might be for the husband to not bring home crack whores to have sex with in front of the children. That would be on the husband's part, common sense.
However, there are some rules of a household that might not be common sense. Such as no leaving dishes in the sink, but rather placing them in the dishwasher immediately after using them. This type of rule was more or less designed simply to keep good order and structure in the home, but doesn't necessarily imply that it should be common sense.
Furthermore, in the typical there are both general rules for everyone and more specific rules tailored to an individual in the household. Sometimes these specific rules are tailored for personalities, sometimes age, sometimes gender. An example of each would be a hot tempered son counting to 10 first before uttering a single word; an 8 year old having a bed time of 9pm; and finally all boys should put the seat back down after tinkling in the potty.
Wouldn't it be a bit silly if such rules were applied generally across the board for every member in the household? Should not common sense prevail over the rules? Perhaps the government needs to follow suit.
For a woman who has openedly confessed to killing all five of her children should be put away for life without question. Even if it was discovered that some dumb ass TV episode never existed, that should not upset the idealogy that this woman should be gone for good.
My God, where is our good common sense?
Someone could suggest to me that I might not want to drink and drive. And that's great advice for our times. However, I might not necessarily consider that great wisdom. For one, a few hundred years ago, high speed vehicles didn't exist. And I don't think there were too many drunk related horse accidents. At least anything that would alarm the nation and consider it to be a severe problem.
Now allow me to share with you a quote to illustrate my point on the differences. English writer, Izaak Walton, once said, "Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God, and value it next to a good conscience; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of; a blessing that money cannot buy."
Now that there is some wisdom. Despite the times, words like that can never fail. Those words remain true for the first people on earth and they certainly will hold true for the last. To me, that is one of the prerequisites to true wisdom.
This now brings me to the purpose of this post. A coworker of mine once shared with me a quote that he keeps in his wallet all the time. It's not necessarily the type of quote that once needs to carry with him at all times, but nonetheless the quote holds extremely true despite the generation that hears it.
The quote was taken from the English poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who has been dead for well over a century. The quote goes as follows....
When it was first told to me, the quote itself didn't make much sense. It wasn't until I applied it recently did I see the true wisdom that Coleridge shared.
Perhaps you might recall the story of a woman from Texas. This woman must have been fertile for she gave birth to five children all by the age of 36. For reasons that are still not clearly known, one spring day in Texas, this woman decided to take her children one by one in the bathroom and drown them in the bathtub. After drowning some of them, she placed them in her bed and covered them up.
Her oldest child, who was 7 at the time, asked his mother what was wrong. He then must have felt that trouble was brewing because he turned and ran for his life. His mother, already having killed four of his siblings chased him down through the house and finally caught him. With him kicking and screaming, this deranged mother dragged her last remaining child into the tub and drowned him. Not once, but twice did he fight through her clutches and manage to come up for air. But his efforts proved useless. He too, like his brothers and one sister, died in the bathroom by the hands of their own mother.
Thereafter, Andrea Yates confessed to police what she had done. A trial was under way on the basis that she might have been insane and proven guilty only by insanity. Well, duh...of course the woman was insane to kill her 5 children. That does not necessarily imply that she should be let off on the easy street because of it. But that's another topic for another day.
The trial came to a close and she was later found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. She was not to be eligible until parole until the age of 77. Or so we thought......
Not more than two weeks ago did a weak minded judge overturn this conviction. What makes this story completely absurd was the reasoning for it. Apparently one of the prosecution witnesses lied on the witness stand about a TV show's episode that didn't exist. Yes, you read me correctly. Because of a television episode that didn't exist this woman's conviction of drowning her five children into a bathtub was overturned.
By all means, allow me to requote Coleridge:
There is something severely wrong with our judicial system. It clearly lacks both common sense and strong minded individuals. How fucking retarded does one have to be to see such a case and overturn such a conviction on the basis of a television program that didn't even air! Kudos to you Judge Dipshit, you just proven yourself to be just one fine example of how our system is fatally flawed.
I know I speak of the impossible when I suggest my correction for the system. Laws need not be so black and white. Laws need not be taken literally. Common sense should be implemented amongst the population. And more importantly, those in the position to review, create, and uphold the hall should do so under the same common sense.
Allow me to use an example to better illustrate where I'm coming from here. Every household has their set of standard rules that all must be followed. Some don't have to be mentioned for they are automatically implied. Such unspoken rules might be for the husband to not bring home crack whores to have sex with in front of the children. That would be on the husband's part, common sense.
However, there are some rules of a household that might not be common sense. Such as no leaving dishes in the sink, but rather placing them in the dishwasher immediately after using them. This type of rule was more or less designed simply to keep good order and structure in the home, but doesn't necessarily imply that it should be common sense.
Furthermore, in the typical there are both general rules for everyone and more specific rules tailored to an individual in the household. Sometimes these specific rules are tailored for personalities, sometimes age, sometimes gender. An example of each would be a hot tempered son counting to 10 first before uttering a single word; an 8 year old having a bed time of 9pm; and finally all boys should put the seat back down after tinkling in the potty.
Wouldn't it be a bit silly if such rules were applied generally across the board for every member in the household? Should not common sense prevail over the rules? Perhaps the government needs to follow suit.
For a woman who has openedly confessed to killing all five of her children should be put away for life without question. Even if it was discovered that some dumb ass TV episode never existed, that should not upset the idealogy that this woman should be gone for good.
My God, where is our good common sense?