The Zero moment point

English class (10/24/2012)...

I have reflected on our in class discussion of this writing excerpted from The Perfect Storm, by Sebastian Junger.  Our small group was given two topics to consider.  The first question was to identify in the essay as to what was the zero-moment point.  The other question was to identify the breaking point.

This essay, by Junger, is about the sinking of Andrea Gail, a fishing vessel from the North Atlantic.  It went down in October, 1991.  Honestly, I only faintly remember this news worthy story.  A movie was produced by Warner Bros. with the name based on Junger’s story.

We found in the essay the zero-moment point as it pertains to marine architects, as the point that sailors realize they are going down.  A point of no return.  For this boat they were not even able to signal distress (EPIRB).  Then we found the break-point.  This is the personal realization that our mind and body suddenly goes into a state of sever panic.  They finally succumb to death through drowning.  The last moments of self-reflection and giving up.

Well, me being a middle aged adult at 44 years old, I thought back over the far distant past and a tragic memory came flooding my mind.  You know it is one of those blacked out things that I wanted to hide for all these years.  Here is my hidden dark memory.

I was say 10-11 years old in 1980.  We had just started new school in August-September.  But at our house (in the country, on the farm) that week, we had an unusual  thing happen.  Our family had puppies born by our lady dog.  Her name was Tina.  Tina was a very favorite dog to us, kids.  I remember our neighbor’s dog wandering to our farm about 2 months previously, and I witnessed the mating of those two dogs.  Wow, that was incredible for a 10 year old boy to watch, me who was just beginning the adventure each one of us goes through from adolescents to youth (a.k.a puberty).  The farm life is a wonderful way to experience the truths of growing up, so to speak.  Animals have instincts of copulation just as well as humans.  Fortunately, on the farm, it is more sacred to witness that reproduction event.

So, any way, Tina had a litter of 12 puppies.  Now that was fertility for a first time birthing.  My father, whom I respect to the utmost, had a serious decision to make.  His thoughts were that Tina would not be able to care for that many puppies as her first birthing event.  So, he and mom decided to eliminate five of those puppies while we were at school.  My parents were smart enough to know that us kids would be affected in some way with our emotions when we would suddenly find out that five puppies were gone.  That is precisely what happened.  We came home from school and after getting off of the school bus, we all went directly to the garage to see the puppies.  Upon seeing the litter box, we all discovered at the same moment that five puppies were not there.  Dad and mom were standing there, too.  And they were watching all of us for our reaction.  For me, it was a horrible out burst of wailing and anger that I had ever done before.  I remember seeing my dad, and when I released that screaming, he grabbed me and held me tightly close to his chest.  He was strong and would not let me go.  I fought him fiercely and struggled to get free.

Eventually, I calmed down and we talked about the situation.  He explained that it hurt him hard too, to eliminate those five puppies.  He and mother had made a careful decision and to the best of their thinking, they really felt they had to do that.  Dad never said what they did to eliminate those puppies, but my brother, a year old then me, told me that he thought they drowned them.  I cringed at him saying that.

Well after about a week of inner turmoil over those events, I had a rebellious moment and found a one week old kitten on the farm; and, I drowned that kitten.  That is my experience with drowning.  I confess now that I regret and feel remorse for drowning that kitten.  I am forgiven I know by the grace of God, but the strange inner feeling comes racing back to me, because of this essay.  I hope others who read this will read with tenderness also.  We all have some dark secret in our far off past that will come flooding back into memory.  Release that memory to someone (as confession) and you will feel better about yourself. 

GOD BLESS YOU

The blank slate versus predespositon to fault

Well, comrades, I have to confess that I really don't know a lot about this controversy as stated in the title.  Our English class had to read the story essay, The Blank Slate, by Steve Pinker.  I read this and laughed at some of his statements.  As I read through this essay it didn't take me long to sense his passion, but I also sensed a real arrogance from Pinker.  This arrogance is notable when he quotes clippings [from another source] about male sexuality and their goal to orgasm.  It appears to me that Pinker is trying to lay a foundation of confrontation with his readers, regardless of the gender.  He knows, like we all know, that sex is a delicate topic, except for when you are with Hollywood entertainers.  Most all of us cower or blush when we talk about sex.  I don't think Pinker does.  This is my basis that he is either very passionate about the blank slate or he is plainly arrogant about his analysis.  Then, when I read all the way to the end, he did not really reach a conclusion as his thesis.  But then again, in his title he really just leaves it open ended for us to decide.

I believe we have a predisposition to fault.  Why do I believe this.  I believe in the sovereignty of God and that He created everything.  He created everything perfectly and good, and all within a 6 day period of 24 hours each.  OK,  does that make you laugh.  Pinker probably does.  I admit I do not know the actual complete processes that God used to create everything in that time frame, but I do believe it would not be beyond His sovereignty and power to do it.  I do believe God reasoned everything out and perfected order when He created this universe and especially our minute planet Earth.  Then upon this planet he chose to make man as the crowning of His creation.  So, I ask the question, does man have authority to govern the earth?  Or is there some other being (species) that can trump our power.  I think we know the real answer is no there isn't.  We, men and women are given dominion to rule over everything here.  However, we also have to deal with evil and those incredibly dark forces which want to ultimately destroy us.  The Mr. Evil Enemy #1 is Satan (the devil).

I believe God created our fist parents (Adam and Eve) and He made them beautiful and perfect.  So unfortunate was that they sinned in the perfect garden after Satan tempted them to disobey God's command. First Eve was deceived then Adam fail too, by a fault of cowardice, in which he listened to Eve and Satan and partook of that forbidden fruit, also.  And now this is where every form of evil originates from,  Our human anatomy and also the whole world (let me say: the whole of everything) is tainted with sin [evil, fallenness, etc.] and that humans have become prey to Satan as his #1 enemy, too.  For, you see, God [Creator] can not permit sin in His presence, ever. The Garden of Eden was closed (eternally) and the two first parents lost that perfect dwelling, exiled out of the garden, into now this evil fallen world.  They had sex, of course, and soon a baby was born named Cain.

Cain, from the moment of conception, was also then tainted with sin.  Cain was born and then Abel, his brother a short time later.  Cain slew his brother in a moment of rage [sin] because he was jealous that Abel received a greater blessing from God.  Doesn't that sound like real evil?  Yes, you get the picture now.  If we had a blank slate, then how did Cain learn to murder his brother.  He didn't learn this act.  The propensity to do evil was in his blood; and, now, it is also in everyone of us.  We all have a predisposition to fault. No one is exempt from sin and its wickedness.  The truth is we all have evil in us.  How much evil?  Well, enough to condemn us to hell.

God wants to save mankind from their wickedness, because He loves us.  His ultimate love for us was sending His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to this Earth, to die and shed his blood as the final atonement for 'ALL' sin; and, that we now can be set free from the condemnation to Hell.  We, all mankind, must accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior to be set free from sin and the destiny of Hell.  There is no 'GOOD' [righteousness] in us to think we can make it on our own to Heaven.  The fallacy of a blank slate fails when we realize we, all alone, are responsible for our deeds.  We acknowledge that we are sinners, we repent from our sins, and confess Jesus Christ as our only Lord and Savior.  This predisposition to fault is removed, gone forever, annihilated by the blood of Jesus.  We are reconciled to God because he see His Son's blood and the imputed righteousness upon us.  This is the only salvation [hope] we have.  From that moment of decision to accept Jesus Christ into our life, we then have a 'Blank Slate'.  All sin is covered and we are set free.  hallelujah

Food, Inc. what a tragedy

This week our whole class watched Food, Inc. on DVD and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the video.  Wow! This documentary really opened my eyes to American culture of consumerism.  What I mean by consumerism is that we indulge in terrible lifestyle choices which will ultimately be our own ruin.  Now, I love America and Americans.  We are the greatest nation that ever existed.  We have so many riches and prosperity that we simply can not help but indulge in consumerism.  Everything around us has been ploy to our satisfactions.  And these things have played game with our thoughts, habits, and environment.

Now, where have we so strayed from American political doctrine that comes from:

The United States Declaration of Independence, which was primarily drafted by Thomas Jefferson, was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The text of the second section of the Declaration of Independence reads,

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Have these truths from Jefferson really caused our own downfall.  I emphatically believe these truths, but humbly admit I am my own worst enemy for falling prey to self indulgences of food.  I believe I am created by a creator (God) and He has put in me [everyone else] the most important aspect of survival and that is eating.  This is not an evolved form of nature that some how we want to eat and eat more and more and more.  But, I do submit that I have fallen victim to the American consumerism ideal in which we want sustenance and we want it fast and abundantly   That is where we have departed from the truth of life sustainability with eating.  May I predict that if we continue this culture that Food, Inc.is propagating, it might very well be our demise.  This video proclaims the 'poisoning' parts of our food and the path it takes from the beginning on the farm through processing and then at the grocery shelf, fast food counter, or restaurant kitchen.  Our food takes a path of 'torture' and we are victims of that 'poisoning' it accumulates along the way.

Isn't that awful, that we as Americans, have allowed our culture to give us the basic elements of survival but yet, we are being 'poisoned' with carcinogens and toxic elements from our very food we ingest.  This is terrible. We need to change first our own thinking and then our habits and then...  Well, you see the whole of the whole for all of us.  We are living all together on this planet and we need to utilize whatever we can to change our culture for the better.

I submit that I will do my part to eat better and also participate in spreading the word about our food.