‘Japanese’ logic: If somebody can do it, I can too. If nobody could do it, I will.
‘Romanian’ logic: If somebody can do it, let them do it! If nobody could do it, why should I?
These two capture rather accurately the respective Weltanschauungs.
There are two things which bother me, though.
Once a Romanian determines that something must be done, they will find a way. No matter how unconventional… It’s not any lack of individual self-confidence which keeps Romania back…
Secondly – but, to me, far more important, who gets to determine whether ‘it’ is worth doing? The doers themselves or somebody else? And what governs the relationship between the two? Is any mutual respect involved there?
For some reason, this whole thing made me remember Oscar Hoffman’s words.
‘Logical correctness isn’t enough. For a sentence to be actually true, it also has to make epistemological sense’.
Both viruses and people are atoms put together according to specific sets of rules. Further more, the same sets of specific rules determine how each of them interact with the places where each of them happen to live.
I need to make a pause here. And mention the fact that life alters, profoundly – if given enough time, the space where it ‘unfolds’. For instance, the blue-green algae have transformed the Earth atmosphere into what it is today.
Viruses which kill too much of what they get in contact with do not survive for long. They either peter out, like Ebola usually does, or have been wiped out. Like small pox was. And polio is close to be.
People who destroy too much around them… soon find out they no longer have a viable home.
And this is valid both for individuals and for the entire species.
Nature, on the other hand, doesn’t care. It simply goes on.
Nu stiu la voi dar la mine a avut efect aproape instantaneu.
Eram programat la 8. Am ajuns la 7:50. Mai erau vreo 3 oameni. Pe trotuar… În fața unui spital de urgență… În dreptul intrării pe care scrie UPU… intrare închisă și păzită de un portar!
În întreb. Pe portar: – Care-i treaba cu vaccinarea? – Aveți programare? – Da. – La 8 începe. Vă chem eu.
Bag și eu măinile în buzunare și aștept. Mai apare un tip. – Cine e ultima persoană?
Repet, pentru cine nu a reținut, cu tot cu el eram vreo 5.
Mai apar încă doi. Portarul ne deschide ușa și ne spune unde să mergem. Adică exact la ușa care era sub „Unitate de Primiri Urgențe” Intrăm. Și aflăm că „abia la 8 începe”. Ieșim. ‘La aer’.
Între timp, câte unul, câte doi, trecuserăm de 10 persoane. Dintre care două stăteau cu masca sub nas iar o a treia fuma o țigară. Unul dintre ‘veterani’ – cu masca sub nas, le indică noilor veniți ‘ordinea de bătaie’. Abia ce termină, apare o tânără care ne cere voie să ‘intre în față’, împreună cu soțul, pentru că n-au avut cu cine să lase copilul – sugar, așa că l-au luat cu ei. Toată lumea acceptă.
Apare un nene care ne împarte niște formulare. Începe cu cei de lângă ușă. Când să treacă la cei mai depărtați, o parte dintre cei aflați la capătul cozii – între timp ne strânsesem vreo 15, trec pe lângă cei care așteptau și se înghesuie în jurul celui cu formularele. Bineînțeles, apar și proteste… Iese o asistentă. Care ne roagă să … mai ales în ziua de Florii…
După ce s-au apucat de treabă, cei de la spital s-au dovedit a fi bine organizați. Totul mergea uns, coada a dispărut în doi timpi și trei mișcări.
Doi dintre beneficiari au ridicat problema ștampilei… – Adeverința asta (de vaccinare) n-are și ea o ștampilă? Poate să o falsifice oricine… Dacă ies din țară, o ia cineva în seamă?
Li se explică că degeaba o falsifici, e trecută într-un registru ‘online’ care este verificat de fiecare dată când cineva face uz de respectiva adeverință.
Am început prin a menționa că la mine a avut efect aproape instantaneu.
Cum stăteam eu acolo să treacă sfertul ăla de oră, au început să-mi treacă tot felul de întrebări. Prin cap, bineînțeles.
Programul celor care se ocupă de vaccinare începe la 8. Înainte de prima injecție, personalul trebuie sa facă câteva pregătiri. N-are rost să intru în amănunte. Și atunci? De ce primii vaccinabili sunt chemați tot la 8? Dacă vaccinarea efectivă nu are cum să înceapă înainte de 8 și-un-sfert?
De ce continuăm să ne comportăm ca pe vremea lui Ceașcă? Să ne ‘băgăm în față’?
De ce suntem în continuare fascinați de ștampilă? În epoca cloud-ului? După aspect, cel puțin una dintre persoanele interesate de problemă ar fi trebuit să-și dea seama, citind adeverința, despre care-i treaba în propoziție…
E clar. Dacă după prima injecție am fost în stare să-mi pun atâtea întrebări, cred că după rapel… Ăsta să fie efectul chipului?!?
Becoming mature implies giving up a lot of things.
A lot of the erstwhile held convictions. No matter how they had happened to accure on you.
For instance, growing up means giving up the widely held belief that growing old will, eventually, ‘open up’ your mind. That living long enough will transform each of us into a wise person.
Living is nothing but an opportunity. What happens during that time depends heavily on ‘Lady Luck’. And, of course, on what each of us is able to make of the opportunities presented by the afore mentioned Lady Luck.
In dear memory of Petre Anghel, my Teacher, who had passed away before we had the chance to finish discussing this subject.
The malicious has made an option. Had chosen. Willingly! And, supposedly – according to the hypothesis being discussed here, knowingly.
The ‘stupid’ just stays put. Until the relevant information penetrates his ‘thick skull’. It’s not his fault that those who attempt to convince him are not skillful enough.
And if the ‘stupid’ happens to be in a ‘powerful’ position… (hence his inability to understand fast enough is liable to produce considerable damage) who needs to be chastised?
The ‘stupid’ himself? Who presumably ‘doesn’t have a clue’ about what’s going on? The malicious who had made the whole situation possible? The ‘lazy bystandards’? Who had allowed this to happen? Out of carelessness?
Or those who are liable to suffer the consequences? Who had understood what was going on but…
On the other hand… Could Dietrich Bonhoefer – a renowned pastor and theologian, utter such ‘simplistic’ words? So callous?
I’m not exactly old. Only old enough to continue to check my email. From time to time…
For reasons outside my knowledge, this morning I’d found – in the ‘promotions’ section’ a link to a ‘common sense with Bari Weiss’ article. The title was apealing, the name rang a bell – even though I had no idea about who the person was, so I read it.
My reaction was intense enough to start writing. Not before looking her up…
The point being that she is basically right. Enabling is a powerful phenomenon. But she is also basically wrong.
Powerfull it might be, only enabling is not necessarily malignant. As she implies.
Enabling is done by people with means. Powerfull and or resourcefull enough for their actions to be effective. What the enablers choose to enable… is something else.
And the consequences of enabling depend on the enablers’ choices!
Things might come up right. Or wrong.
The kind of enabling curently predominant in America has been detrimental to the society at large. Leading to the enablers becoming irrelevant. Just as Weiss advertised. Trump has been supplanted by those who had occupied the Capitol – after being enabled by him, while on the other side of the political divide things aren’t going any better. Cultural cancellation isn’t going to end up well.
But enabling can lead to different outcomes. Depending, of course, on what is being enabled.
Take Germany, for instance. Yes, nobody knows who its President is. Only the country, as a whole, functions far better than many of those whose Presidents are on everybody’s lips. Simply because the German enablers had chosen to enable the ‘right’ kind of behaviors.
I’m not a very social person. I don’t know that many people.
Those I know belong to three categories. People I’ve met, people I’ve kept in contact with and people I’ve got drunk with. Since I don’t ‘go under’ easily, you can imagine that those belonging to the third category are not ‘legion’.
On the other hand, Romania hasn’t been hit that hard by Covid. Only 22000 dead.
I’m not going to tell you how many of the people I’ve ever met – or even kept in contact with, are now dead. Because of Covid, of course. I’m only going to mention that two of those with whom I’ve enjoyed more than a ‘merry evening’ are no longer with us. Because of Covid. I’ve known them well and I’m certain it wasn’t a bogus diagnosis.
Let’s get serious. I know how many of you are fed up with how the authorities – all over the world, have bothched ‘it’ up. I know how many of you are fed up with how greedy Big Pharma, and the healthcare establishment, have been during the last 50 years or so. I know how many of you are longing to get back to ‘normal’. I know all these because I’m fed up too. And I too am longing to raise a glass with my surviving friends.
Please note that during the previous peak it had been reached a 7 day moving average of some 8 000 daily new cases. And a 7 day moving average of some 165 daily deaths. Right now we are at a 7 day moving average of 5500 new daily cases and an average of 100 daily deaths 165/8000*100=2.06% 100/5500*100=1.82% Better, but still! And we shouldn’t forget that the hospitals are not yet running overdrive….
That’s why I’ll continue to wear a mask, to keep my distance, to wash my hands. That’s why I’ve put myself on the waiting list. I’m sure you have a prety clear idea which list I’m talking about.
See you on the other side!
And I pray those who are no longer with us will rest in peace.
“First day of class. The law school teacher entered the room and asked a student sitting in the first row: ‘What’s your name?’ ‘Nelson.’ ‘Get out of my class and never come back!’ Everyone was scared and outraged but no one dared to speak up. ‘Very well!’ said the professor after Nelson had left. ‘Let’s start!’ ‘What do we have laws for?’ The students were scared but they tentatively answered the questions. ‘So that order may be maintained?’ ‘No!’ ‘For us to fulfill?’ ‘No!’ ‘So that trespassers might be punished?’ ‘No!’ ‘For justice to be made?’ ‘Finally! And what is justice?’ The students were already pissed off but they continued. ‘When human rights are upheld?’ ‘Not bad. Elaborate!’ ‘To differentiate good from bad?’ ‘Then was I right to throw Nelson out?’ Silence. ‘I want an answer!’ ‘No…’ ‘You might say and injustice had been committed?’ ‘Yes…’ ‘Then why nobody did anything about it?’ ‘What do we want laws for if we don’t have the will to uphold them? Each and everyone of you needs to speak up whenever you witness injustice being done! All of you! Always!’ ‘Go bring Nelson back! After all, he’s the real teacher. I’m nothing but a student here!’ ‘We should all learn that whenever we don’t defend our rights, our dignity vanishes.’ ‘That dignity is not negotiable’!” I’ve just read this on somebody’s FB wall. And a couple of comments. “‘But why did you have to throw Nelson out?!? Couldn’t you have simply explained your point? Lousy teacher… you just enjoyed playing God!’ ‘There is a small difference between explaining ‘something’ to somebody and making the same somebody actually feel that ‘something’. The same difference which exists between a lump of clay and the same lump of clay after God had breathed soul into it’.“
