Friends, while it’s true that poor planning in the White House does not constitute an emergency in our houses, it’s also true that Friday means the Sun arrives directly in your inbox. This is not a test.
☀️A Local Philosophy
There’s a legend about a college philosophy class where there was only one graded assignment: an essay test at the end of the semester. All fall the students read hundreds of pages and listend to hours of lectures from the professor. They considered Plato and Aristotle, Kant and DesCartes, Hume and Locke, Boethius and Nietzsche and Sarte. They examined sources of knowledge, first principles, the validity of reason and experience and faith. When they arrived on the last day of class with their blue books in hand, the professor wrote one question on the whiteboard for the exam:
Why?
Many students scribbled pages of material. They compiled all the arguments they could to give as comprehensive an answer as possible. But only one student scored 100%. He was also the student who finished the quickest. His answer was:
Why not?
On my most playful day as a teacher I’m not sure I’d accept that as a complete answer, though I would probably draw a smiley face beside it. But you don’t need a pipe in your hand to appreciate the simplicity here. “I think, therefore I might as well enjoy it.”
I don’t mean that the answer is hedonistic thinking; “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” sort of thing. The point isn’t just pleasure, or more accurately, the point isn’t short term pleasure. But if we’re here, and if we’ve got a brain, and if the sun has come up again, why not think about making something a little more fun and fruitful? What is the benefit of making it worse? That’s stupid.
A few weeks ago I was at a conference in Tacoma about culture building. The speakers were Christians and they were talking about what makes Christian culture and how we could make more of that. The last session was a Q&A, and one of the attendees asked about moving to a place that’s more conservative or at least less aggressively pushy in perversity. Why should we care about building Christian culture in such a godless, and really anti-God, spot?
Why not?
There’s more to it than that, sure. And certainly there’s no law (yet) prohibiting relocating. But Marysville is my home. Marysville is where I love. The Pacific Northwest and in particular Western Washington is where my family is rooted.
I’ve got three books that sit on my desk behind my laptop. I see them every day, and they are in my periphery every time I sit down. Two of them were gifts from others in our community that also care about our local, cultural project. And especially when I think of “A Centennial Look At The Past” tagline, I think about what things people will look back at one-hundred years from now and their reflections of Marysville. It will be affected by what I do, or don’t do, today. Same goes for you. Why seek to be a blessing? Why not?
☀️Looking Around
Last week the Sun ran some thoughts about the unnatural problems with masking. Earlier this week Nate Fischer at American Reformer wrote about an additional problem of “ritual masking.” Here’s a key quote as Fischer talks about the burden of proof:
we should remain open to new evidence-based arguments. But with clear and pervasive ritual demands and a dubious scientific case, it’s reasonable to presume that new masking calls are grounded in ritual rather than science. This helps establish an appropriate burden of proof for evaluating such calls.
The whole article is worth putting in your mental hopper.
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Here’s a new two-minute video from the city highlighting Lead Custodian Toni Majerus with a link to more info about marysvillewa.gov/jobs.
☀️Upcoming Events
Coffee Klatch with Mayor Nehring - Monday, October 9, 5:30-6:30pm. See the city’s webpage for more info.
Gravitics: Space Stations designed in Marysville - Tuesday, October 10, 6:30pm. Up next in the Marysville Presents series, Scott Macklin from Gravitics will talk about the space station module prototypes being prepared in the Marysville facility. The Herald recently ran an article about Gravatics in Marysville.
Trunk or Treat - Saturday, October 28, 11:00am - 1:00pm at Cascade Christian Reformed Church. See the Facebook Event page for more info.
☀️Friday Fun
It’s really a question of stewardship.
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