Today, as I was driving to my doctor’s appointment I started to think about some things. Not unusual for me, I really live about 70% in my head. What I was thinking about was a conversation I had with my youngest son, he has gone back to school and he wanted to tell me how he did on his first tests of the semester.
We talked for a bit about his grades, excellent, and then we started talking about his philosophy class. This was one of my favorite classes in college as well.
He said he really didn’t understand the grading system for philosophy since it is really subjective. I agreed, then we started talking about the different philosophers and what they believed.
Here’s the thing my son and I don’t agree on several things, but we don’t fight. We have discussions and debates, but we don’t fight. He shakes his head at how I can believe the way I do and still read things authors such as Joseph Campbell and watch science fiction. I laugh and say of course I can believe the way I do and still find value in those things.
He once asked me if I believed in aliens (from outer space, not the illegal kind) I said of course I do.
I believe it is the height of hubris to think that we are God’s only creation. Of course there has to be others. Maybe they came before us and are therefore more advanced than we are.
I miss the world I grew up in, I miss being able to have civilized discourse on the world’s events. On religion, politics and philosophy, I miss those, I miss real political debates.
I know I talk a lot about this, I miss Ronald Reagan and Walter Cronkite. I miss logic and facts, I miss so much about the world that was.
Did civility begin to crumble with the advent of chatrooms? Where people first discovered they could sit behind a keyboard and a screen and say whatever popped into their heads without sensor?
I don’t know, I do know that I am of an age of dinosaurs at this point. Will we be able to get to a point where we can ever have those discussions again?
I don’t have any answers and I don’t pretend to, I will say this, I will enjoy having discussions, debates and confounding my son for as long as I have left on this earth.
My thought process is not an easy one to follow, but he does, it doesn’t make it a lot easier for him to accept, but he does with graciousness.
On another note, Fat Catstard is disappointed he didn’t get to eat my face. I woke the other morning to him licking my hand, I said not today Fattymcbutterpants. Not today.
He looked at me with a canary eating grin and sauntered off.
As usual any comments, questions or debates can be left here or sent to me at angie@angieworld.com
Angie World 