Plain and Simple

Sometimes a teacher shows up for class with a lesson plan. And other times the teacher goes with the ebb and flow of the class and improvises. The thing about a class is that it generally has themes to keep it from wandering too much. I'm no teacher, but if I play one on my blog, that's good enough for tax purposes.

There's a sneaking suspicion of mine that I'm not the only one here. The idea that others could potentially join in this thought process at any moment, whether actively or passively, is an inviting one. I show up for the party first, set out the h'ors doeuvres, do some vacuuming around the site, get it all ready, and all of you can show up any time you like. You come in the door unannounced, and I could be off in the other room dozing for all you know. But everybody's welcome, providing you wipe your feet and shut the door behind you.

So today I’m wondering if plain is a flavor. It could be if you wanted it to. Some may say that it's the lack of a flavor. Some might say that it's a neutral flavor. Who's to say? It could all be a matter of how you look at it. If you're consistent in how you apply definitions, you could make a case either way. And on a good day, you might get the jury to side with you. But then the jury could still be wrong. Who checks the jury for accuracy? Maybe they don't have to be right, but just decisive. After all, their only requirement is to reach some verdict.

We always like to be right, though in a lot of things there are likely multiple right answers. One right answer doesn't necessarily negate another answer. Some things could be more similar than they are different. I like looking at different areas of knowledge in terms of degrees. Some would say all areas must have absolutes, but do we know that's an absolute? I could argue that objects don't possess either a color or no color, but possess degrees (or shades) of color. Or if black is the absense of color, how can we paint with it then? These are the very profound philosophical questions that can be continually explored, until we get tired of them and realize we're just redefining our prejudices. But in the meantime, it's still a lot of fun, and it keeps us off the streets. And I stay away from streets, because they tend to have negative connotations attached to them. I don't know what it is about streets, but that seems to be where the negativity gravitates to.

I just realized that police dispatchers on the scanner talk in a matter-of-fact way a lot like Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man... "Suspect is definitely threatening to throw water balloons at the victim... yeah. Suspect is definitely pole vaulting over buildings at an alarming rate, but it doesn't faze me a bit... over. I eat rocks for breakfast... over." We could be having Armageddon, and these people would still be calm and collected. "We have a report of the earth's atmosphere collapsing, with objects falling from the sky the size of large pachyderms... temperatures rising by 40° Fahrenheit and entire continents falling into the sea. Requesting general advisory..."

They must practice those voices at home, too. The lady's husband asks what's for dinner, and she responds, "T-49, we have an intoxicated male in the living room requesting sustinence. Patrol cars are en route... over."