How to Pick Sides

People are so fickle, and by people, I of course include myself. We never know what we really want, do we? I don't know, I was just watching Letters from Iwo Jima and I realized that we base our loyalty on the side we relate to the most, which tends to fluctuate quite often. I'm not saying that firm people don't exist, I'm just saying that we make fun of them if we find out who they are. They are the narrow minded ones, while we tend to bounce around from place to place, never really landing on anything solid. I just got to thinkin because the movie is from the Japanese perspective on the battle of Iwo Jima. I didn't finish it due to it getting a little late for me to still be up, but what I realized is that I've seen movies on that battle and ones like it before. I've always seen the American perspective, and they had my remorse. But in this movie, I found my remorse handed to the Japanese.

So I'm displaying a class act example of loyalty based upon emotion, I am the fair weather fan. It's definitely a product of the post modern idea, just weighing the emotions of one side, usually the lesser thought of. I can see benefits of that kind of thinking, but when we fail to compare both sides, and when we fail to include logic with our emotions, I feel that it is a disservice, and any decision yielded from that train of thought is potentially just as destructive as its counterpart.

I also found myself in envy of other languages. Japanese, in particular, seems to be a language that by cultural standards has not lost the power behind the words spoken. Coming from a poetic history, it seems, at least to an outsider, that Japanese words are chosen very carefully. I say this because whenever I watch anything Japanese, the conversations seem to be so immense. I remember while being in Ghana, Godwin was showing his thanks to us and he said that there were no words in English that could frame exactly what he wanted to express, so he said it in one of the several Ghanaian languages. Now I think English can be a beautiful language if spoken with precision, but I find no tolerance of that in the microwave internet society we Americans call home. As a result of this, I find that most businesses will admit that their biggest problem is communication. We're losing the ability to communicate to each other clearly.

Anyways, I joined the YMCA today and I swam a 500. It wore me out pretty good and then I sat in the steam room. I wanted to throw up when I was done, but I withheld. Now I'm good and worn out. I think I'll sleep deep tonight.

Linzy and I are doing great! She's a great girl and we have a lot going for us. The best thing is that we can talk to each other about pretty much anything (again, communication) and I'm really glad about that. We've seen each other pretty much every day since she got back last Sunday night, but we've really wanted to. She says that this is the honeymoon phase, and I know she's right. It's going to take more work soon, but we both know it and it doesn't intimidate us at all. So for those of you who haven't met her, it looks like she'll be coming back to High Point with me over Thanksgiving, so you'll all get your chance.

I'm going to bed now. Hope I'm not too sore in the morning. Peace and love.