Moral Fashionistas

Have you ever seen an old photo of yourself and been embarrassed at the way you looked? --- “Did we actually dress like that?”

We did.

And we had no idea how silly we looked. It's the nature of fashion to be invisible, in the same way the movement of the earth is invisible to all of us riding on it.

What scares me is that there are moral fashions too. They're just as arbitrary, and just as invisible to most people. But they're much more dangerous. Fashion is mistaken for good design; moral fashion is mistaken for good. Dressing oddly gets you laughed at. Violating moral fashions can get you fired, ostracized, imprisoned, or even killed.

If you could travel back in a time machine, one thing would be true no matter where you went: you'd have to watch what you said. Opinions we consider harmless could have gotten you in big trouble. I've already said at least one thing that would have gotten me in big trouble in most of my eighteen months of work, like what placed Galileo in big trouble when he said it --- that the earth moves.

Nerds are always getting in trouble. They say improper things for the same reason they dress unfashionably and have good ideas: convention has less hold over them.

It seems to be a constant throughout history: In every period, people believed things that were just ridiculous, and believed them so strongly that you would have gotten in terrible trouble for saying otherwise.

Is our time any different?

To anyone who has read any amount of history, the answer is almost certainly no. It would be a remarkable coincidence if ours were the first era to get everything just right.

Confessions of Love

This entry is prompted by the noblest of impulses so don't misunderstand the noble mission it is going to convey.

When I met you, as if by a God-sent blessing, I thought that I saw a light of soft understanding.

What had come over me?

I was not like this before.

Yes before I met you, I lived a peaceful life. I could go and return home and feel no trouble. But now, I am disturbed mind and soul.

It cannot be my imagination or is it that love has struck too deeply and that I must pay sacrifice for what is asked of me? I have tried to restrain myself. I have tried to stifle my longings knowing that I am not even fit to grace your side.

But Cupid's orders are imperative.

Who am I to battle the call of fate? I know that when I saw you, Cupid had marked me for his victim. Yes, it is love that has taken root in my heart. But I have been so foolish to hug delusions to my heart.

I should not have persisted even when I saw the shadow of your winsome smile.

Let me console myself that I have loved you in name only, a way that lingers only in imagination, in mere dreams, in fantasy, the creation of mind. Here I am still longing for your attention.

I love you!

Always take care.

Captain America Dies

Captain America has undertaken his last mission --- at least for now. The venerable superhero is killed in the issue of his namesake comic that hit stands Wednesday, the Daily News reported.

On the new edition's pages, a sniper shoots down the shield-wielding hero as he leaves a courthouse, according to the newspaper.

It ends a long run for the stars-and-stripes-wearing character, created in 1941 to incarnate patriotic feeling during World War II. Over the years, an estimated 210 million copies of "Captain America" comic books, published by New York-based Marvel Entertainment Inc., have been sold in a total of 75 countries.

But resurrections are not unknown in the world of comics, and Marvel Entertainment editor in chief Joe Quesada said a Captain America comeback wasn't impossible.

Still, the character's death came as a blow to co-creator Joe Simon.

In the comic-book universe, death is not always final. But even if Captain America turns out to have met his end in print, he may not disappear entirely: Marvel has said it is developing a Captain America movie.

Wrong Move

Life is like a game of chess, in which there are an infinite number of complex moves possible.
The choice is open, but the move contains within itself all future moves.

One is free to choose, but what follows is the result of one's choice. From the consequences of one's action there is never any escape.

Along life’s track we do make wrong moves. We do commit mistakes.

But maybe our mistakes are what make our fate. Without them, what would shape our lives? Perhaps if we never veered off course, we wouldn't fall in love, or have babies, or be who we are.
After all, seasons change. So do we. People come into your life and people go. But it's comforting to know the ones you love are always in your heart...

And if you're very lucky, just a bus ride away.