Leveraged Intelligence

Half Truths

Welcome to a new Friday offering for the Loose Blogger Consortium, a wild, thoughtful, rambunctious, creative group of free spirits – all listed in clickable links on the left – who are just a joy to read.  Each Friday, we take a common topic and post on it more or less simultaneously.  Not everyone can post every Friday, but there are going to be some great posts out there to enjoy.

Of course, I want you to read this one first …

Truth is really hard to pin down with a definition.  Look at this from Wikepedia:

Truth can have a variety of meanings, from the state of being the case, being in accord with a particular fact or reality, being in accord with the body of real things, events, actuality, or fidelity to an original or to a standard, truth "behind" everything, the ontological truth. In archaic usage it could be fidelity, constancy or sincerity in action, character, and utterance. Various theories and views of truth continue to be debated among scholars and philosophers. There are differing claims on such questions as what constitutes truth; what things are truthbearers capable of being true or false; how to define and identify truth; the roles that revealed and acquired knowledge play; and whether truth is subjective, relative, objective, or absolute.

These types of definitions of truth itself, we usually leave to Philosophy.  Even though we can’t easily pin truth down and philosophy may seem a bit ethereal to the reader, truth in some sense is essential to almost all of our considerations.  Try to deny what I just said without telling me it is not true!

Truth is very powerful – and the definer of truth holds a mighty tool … or weapon … in her or his hand!  Where there is power, there is temptation.  Where there is temptation, the potential arises for corruption.  However, because of the need for action in the world, we don’t usually define truth philosophically, we usually define it through techniques, institutions and leadership.  Let’s take a look at a few of these.

Religion usually tries to give us unassailable truth, Holy Truth.  Yet, even here not all truths codified as laws are equal and this is why Christ railed against the Pharisees, telling them, "Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices — mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel" (Matthew 23:23,24) 

It is often due to the belief in competing “unassailable” truths that causes so many to lose sight of the camels entering their gullets leading to destruction of their fellow man and their world rather than uplifting anyone or anything to the divine.

Sales and Marketing are the economic siblings of these other methods.  You have a need.  No, listen, you have a need – let me show you.  I  have a solution that fulfills that need.  I’m telling you the truth.

Sales are necessary, for we live in a world of commerce.  As the consumer, it is up to you to be responsible for determining what you actually DO need, not simply what you are being told you need.

Debate tournaments require alternation between arguing one side of an issue then the other as the participants progress through the tournament.  Competing “truths” ultimately lead the participants to realize that in the big picture of the proposition being considered, they are alternating between half truths, that the whole truth obviously contains both sides they argue.  It would be kind of fun were there some way to apply some fuzzy logic to their scores; but, of course, the debate is hardly won simply with logic.

A trial is somewhat the same, with an attorney arguing for a client and avoiding as skillfully as possible arguments that contradict their position.  They are trying to elevate interpretation of provided evidence, testimony being part of that evidence, to the level of truth in the jurors’ minds.  The jurors sit as judges of truth.  The difficulty is, of course, that the wealthier clients have access to more skilled attorneys, giving their half of the truth a whole lot better chance.

This also is the main method of our public presentations by Congress.  They debate on the floor, but most of the time it is not really to convince one another, it is to convince the public to put pressure on the other side.

Observation and Reporting is another approach to truth, the approach supposedly being used as not only part of scientific data gathering, but also by journalists using various media.  As soon as a scientist or a journalist has a vested interest in the outcome, the observation is potentially tainted!  At that point, they may become conscious or unconscious promoters of specific outcomes.  Science best achieves the best outcome with control subjects and double-blind observations where neither observer nor observed can possibly connect the dots at the point of observation.  That is not an approach that can be applied to journalism, obviously, and we rely to a large extent upon the integrity of the journalist.

Commentary is really a journalistic cousin of observation and reporting.  The journalist’s perspective is added quite openly and can be considered as such.  Unfortunately, the compartmentalization of reporting and commentary, the compartmentalization that prevents the contamination of purpose and opinion, is becoming less and less observed as news media compete more and more for money via ratings and advertising on a 24/7 stage!

Charismatic Leadership tends to cast an aura of truth.  Danger Will Robinson!  Quite often we believe not what was said, but WHO said it.  Up to a point, that is necessary, for we haven’t the expertise, resources or time available to observe all evidence firsthand.  All that we can do is keep our eyes and our minds open and watch out for signs of adoration in ourselves that can be blinding and examine all evidence we can garner.  In other words, when it comes to charisma, be as aware of yourself as of the leader!

It is equally damning to reject their presentation simply because they are charismatic.

Propaganda had a brutal master, the Nazi Information Minister, Joseph Goebbels!  Read some of his views of truth and be chilled:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”

“Intellectual activity is a danger to the building of character”

“Whoever can conquer the street will one day conquer the state, for every form of power politics and any dictatorship-run state has its roots in the street.”

Propaganda did not disappear with the Third Reich!  It still has many adherents although most don’t reach the level of Nazi ruthlessness.  We will all agree that propaganda is still out there in abundance and we even will agree that it sprouts wherever there is power to be gained.  The tough part is that we will disagree about which part is truth and which part propaganda!

Art.  Don’t forget art.  Just because you don’t have words for it doesn’t mean it doesn’t fill out truth.  This is an original artwork, Foxes by Franz Marc (on the left) next to a reproduction of it that Carly did in art class (on the right):

After each student copied the original of their chosen artist, they were asked to do the Mona Lisa in the style of that artist!  Look at the result Carly produced!

That teacher, Tracy Michelson, is magnificent!  TRUE art.

Individual Research and Education is probably the last, best hope.  The conclusion I come to is that truth can only be decided by the individual and I encourage each and every one to stay on top of issues the way only you can.  It is better that we have aware people informing themselves as best they can than that information be squelched or censored.  It is a messy path filled with bumps and potholes, but it sure seems to beat anything else.  The danger is selling yourself on a half truth, not trying to cover all the bases at all and then ignoring new input.  Be sure you can argue the opposing viewpoint(s), even if you only think they are 35% true.  One of the great inoculations against half truths seems to be input from a variety of sources!  It takes courage to discard beliefs in the face of new knowledge, especially if you seem to be alone in doing so.

Don’t always be alone, though.  One of the essential parts of finding truth is what you share with friends and loved ones – even when you are wrong!!

Tears

This is a Friday Loose Blogger Consortium topic brought to us by Grannymar.  Tough subject of which I’m sure many of our bloggers will do it justice and I encourage you to make the rounds by clicking their links on the left side of this form. 

Some are busy with life activities right now, so be patient.  It’s still summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

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It never used to happen to me all that easily – this crying thing – but part of the maturing of a man in our culture is to drop his guard a bit, to allow a more sensitive vulnerability.  It came to me full force in my involvement with the high school choir in which my daughter performed.

It wasn’t so much the scenes with pathos in their musicals even though the kids performed with amazing interpretation for their ages.

No, it was their singing and the marvelous music itself.  It moved – and moves – me in ways hard to explain.  I don’t know how many times I would film their performances and be surreptitiously wiping tears from my eyes.

I’ve become like Pavlov’s dog.  Gather those kids together for a performance now, have them sing, and I’m sure I’d start leaking.

Next Friday, I will be doing another type of filming, for I’ve been asked to film the performance of Masonic Scottish Rite for James’ grandfather’s memorial.  It will also be a military funeral, I believe, but am uncertain.  I hope they don’t play taps.  Taps tears me up … in both meanings of the word. 

Life was easier with young bravado.  It was also less fulfilling, more emotionally impoverished.  Tears are sometimes the price of admission.

Media

A Friday Blogger Consortium topic brought to us by Ginger.  It’s a good topic, one that allows a group of creative minds virtually unlimited creative and analytic directions.  Almost like these people were members of the media …

… which, of course, they are.  The Consortium readership may not total in the millions – unless you count Grannymar’s readers – but that doesn’t stop us from opining about a multitude of topics and, since you are reading it, it is information consumed.

Definition of Media by YourDictionary.com: The dictionary defines media as all the means of communication, as newspapers, radio, and TV, that provide the public with news, entertainment, etc., usually along with advertising. Essentially, that means almost anything can be media as long as it is watched.

Actually, that is slightly inaccurate.  The last line should be as long as anyone consumes its information.  The fact that you read what we write and that we enjoy presenting ideas to you is, I think, a very positive thing.  In fact, many of the consumers of the information are purveyors themselves, for many of the blog readers are blog writers.  More than at any earlier time in history, media are interactive, quite often two-way.

Rick Sanchez at CNN has been doing this for a considerable stretch of time, trying to use social media as part of his news input.  He actually follows Twitter during the show, used to have Tweets displayed along the bottom of the screen in a running marquee, and tried to use Skype dialogues as live entries from viewers for awhile (see: http://www.levintel.com/first-live-cnn-chat-streamever/, an experiment that I was involved with).

The difficulty with both is that a new level of responsibility is placed on both sides of the communication that interactivity has created.  If we as viewers are giving live input to the news person, are we now creating news rather than observing it?  If the news person doesn’t react to our opinions, what is the point?  But, if he or she does, is this a tainting of unbiased reporting?  Does the news person have the tendency to want to play to the audience more and forget objectivity at times?

Even as bloggers, how much information do we feed that is misleading, because we have not fully researched what we are saying?  Well, as long as you know this is really an op-ed source and don’t take us too seriously – and from your responses, I don’t think we too much to worry about on that front, LOL – it is pretty harmless and actually good fun.  Some of it even thought provoking.

But, for the professional media … well, it makes me a little nervous.

Books

This is my addition – late this time – to the Loose Blogger Consortium Friday offering.  Sorry gang.  I didn’t forget, I ran myself out of time.

But, here it is, late rather than never.  Why?  Because I really do treasure what I share with you, the reader, and with my fellow bloggers in this group.  They are listed on the left with clickable links and I encourage you to see what they have to say on Books, a topic brought to us by gaelikaa.

My original idea was to take photographs of my bookshelves, some leisure reading, some technical in my office, but decided instead that this post should be more book-like itself, lean, descriptive narrative unadorned.

This is a generation who reads, but I fear they may lose the joy of book reading, just as our generation lost the joy of sitting around the radio as a family, listening to a mystery on the radio, listening to a mesmerizing voice, images forming in your head.  No two had the same experience, for what isn’t explicitly supplied must be supplied by the imagination, by the receiving party.  The trick is for the presenter to be so descriptive in what is supplied that filling in, adding to, is involuntary.  Television, unfortunately, does that filling in for you, the viewer becoming more passive, less actively engaged.

Now, why am I talking about the radio suddenly when this is a post about books?  Because the analogy is apt.  In our migration to on-line reading and to social media and to television, we are losing those same types of engagement that we lost with the passing of the great radio dramas.  That, quite honestly, is the joy I have in seeing younger people caught up in the Harry Potter series; a re-engagement of the imagination, creation of a shared sub-culture entered through the pages of a book first, on the screen second.

The strongest argument I can make for the joy and magic of book reading is this: characters brought from a book story to movies or television virtually never meet the standards or the reality of that character who formed in my mind while reading.  THAT is why I read for pleasure.

Potatoes and Beans …

This is the Friday offering for the Bloggers Consortium, members with clickable links on the left.  This topic was brought to us by the Magpie himself.

Anyway, on with my story.  When given a topic like this, I immediately thought of the navy bean soup we used to eat as kids, both at home and at school.  Navy beans and ham hocks tasted great and they fit a less than extravagant budget.  You could eat it summer or winter.

Little did I know that I was eating such an American tradition.  When we visited DC around 1990, one of the things we did was stop in for some Senate Bean Soup!  So, for the first time on this blog, a recipe:

Senate Bean Soup

Bean soup is on the menu in the Senate’s restaurant every day. There are several stories about the origin of that mandate, but none has been corroborated. 

According to one story, the Senate’s bean soup tradition began early in the 20th-century at the request of Senator Fred Dubois of Idaho.  Another story attributes the request to Senator Knute Nelson of Minnesota, who expressed his fondness for the soup in 1903.

The recipe attributed to Dubois includes mashed potatoes and makes a 5-gallon batch.  It also saves me needing to write about beans AND potatoes, don’tcha know!  The recipe served in the Senate today does not include mashed potatoes, but does include a braised onion.  Both Senate recipes are below.

The Famous Senate Restaurant Bean Soup Recipe

2 pounds dried navy beans

four quarts hot water

1 1/2 pounds smoked ham hocks

1 onion, chopped

2 tablespoons butter

salt and pepper to taste

Wash the navy beans and run hot water through them until they are slightly whitened. Place beans into pot with hot water. Add ham hocks and simmer approximately three hours in a covered pot, stirring occasionally. Remove ham hocks and set aside to cool. Dice meat and return to soup. Lightly brown the onion in butter. Add to soup. Before serving, bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper. Serves 8.

Bean Soup Recipe (for five gallons)

3 pounds dried navy beans

2 pounds of ham and a ham bone

1 quart mashed potatoes

5 onions, chopped

2 stalks of celery, chopped

four cloves garlic, chopped

half a bunch of parsley, chopped

Clean the beans, then cook them dry.  Add ham, bone and water and bring to a boil.  Add potatoes and mix thoroughly.  Add chopped vegetables and bring to a boil.  Simmer for one hour before serving.

Trust me, either recipe works a whole lot better than the Senate does!  It’s a great choice, though, for they never seem to run out of pork …

Criminals

Let’s roll out some definitions and then follow the white rabbit to see where it goes.

1. Criminal: someone guilty of crime
2. Guilt: the fact of having committed a breach of conduct especially violating law and involving a penalty.
3. Crime: a grave offense especially against morality.
4. Morality: conformity to ideals of right human conduct.

Thus, a criminal is someone who has committed a grave breach of right human conduct.  Of course, the gravity is relative and the measuring instruments imprecise, considering that we are flawed creatures disagreeing heartily about what is right.  Nonetheless, you have to start drawing a line somewhere.

As with so many human creations, we like to believe in absolutes and right and wrong are definitely no exception.  Unfortunately, not all crimes are equal and not all criminals are equally guilty.  Let’s look at four cases drawn from four real people who have been  part of my life.  I am going to make a real effort, as usual, to prevent you from figuring out who the specific individuals are – but I assure you that they are all real people.

Case #1 – A Severely Delusional Man

Dominated by the most severe paranoid schizophrenia I’ve ever seen, he shot and killed his mother believing she was someone else.  More accurately, it was because he believed HE was someone else and she was not his mother.  How that motivated the killing I am unsure and it was hard to speak with him about it at the time since I had to hide out for three days with my family until he was apprehended.

This wasn’t the first time he had shown violent tendencies and had held his wife down by the throat at one point in the middle of a delusional episode.  He was diagnosed at that time as paranoid schizophrenic, but he had not committed any crimes at that point, so legally he could not be held.  He was armed to the teeth, seething irrational fear growing.  A very talented artist and carpenter until his disease won, his life was laid to waste.  Unfortunately, it took his mother in its wake.

Case #2 – A Thief Who Lived by Gaming the System

The second case was a relative who was one of the best con men you could ever find.  I remember seeing him literally lift the side of a very heavy boat with no problem for that back of his that had him on permanent disability, the result of a car accident that turned into steady income. 

He was the only person any of us knew who actually beat the Army!  You see, he actually signed up for the service four or five different times and took the signing bonus each time.  That ended with the felony he got for robbing the grocery store.

He stole another relative’s closet full of pants and had the nerve to take the pants to the guy’s own mother, his aunt, for alterations.  When she pointed out to him that they still had her son’s laundry tag in them, he was amazed and certainly wondered how THAT got in there!

He stole his uncle’s income tax check from the mailbox.  When he tried to cash it at the bank, he would have been in big trouble with the Feds – if his uncle hadn’t refused to press charges and his father hadn’t cleared it up.  The same uncle that he bought a van from by signing over his Social Security checks to him so that as they came in at the bank they would automatically go into his account until the van was paid for.  The same uncle he stopped the payment on after one check – then proceeded to ruin the van before the uncle could get it back.

His mother – before she ran off – was the type of woman who put a tomato worm in his aunt’s sandwich once, the same aunt asked to alter the pants.  Thought it was funny, I guess.  She left quickly, because the aunt cut the sandwich in half, finding the worm. 

He was part of an interesting branch of the family.  He is usually remembered with rolling eyes and laughter.

Case #3 – Probably Damaged Beyond Repair

The next member of our rogues gallery managed to get drunk and cuss my wife and me out in the front yard one evening – even though we weren’t even involved in her problem of the moment.

She hit her sister over the head with a full beer bottle and would not release a strangle hold on her sister until my wife threatened to call the police.

Recently she was upset when her grandmother would not watch her son while she went to a street fair, so she threw pictures from the walls, threw food from the table and stomped out.  She proceeded to go to her sister’s place, steal two digital cameras and a laptop, stealing all the pictures of the woman’s daughter from the past year in the process – and disappeared.  No one has heard from her since.

Her mother left her when she was eleven and her drunken father allowed a boarder at his house to get her pregnant when she was thirteen.  She has been in and out of prison more than once and I see little hope for her.

Case #4 – Pays Big for Meaningless Infraction

A young man going to work on the night shift rolled around the corner at 15 mph on a red light on a deserted street at 2:45 AM.  Deserted except for the automatic camera that is.

Fine amount?  $450.00!

A society makes up what is “right human conduct” and codifies laws to deal with transgressions.  It is the same problem that is faced by any large group making a blanket application of decisions.  Because some transgressions like murder, hitting people over the head with bottles or theft of possessions are obviously wrong, something has to be done by the collective group.  Still, what is done should be just and as consistent as possible, for criminals usually are not the first to do what they do.  They should be treated in an impartial manner and society should have some protection from their abuses.

The problem comes in when truly victimless crimes cost someone like our last young man about thirty hours of hard labor, for that is what it will take for him to pay the fine.  Why is he in that situation?  Well, because someone else takes a corner faster than that in traffic, endangering pedestrians and other drivers.  Did I mention yet that the State could also use the money?  So, he gets screwed.

You know what?  He is the one who didn’t complain when he got caught.  His comment was simple, “I shouldn’t have done it.”  #2 and #3 would say, “I shouldn’t be punished.  I am innocent!”

In his state of mind, I don’t know what #1 thought.  That is the saddest of all.

This is my contribution to the Friday offerings of the Loose Bloggers Consortium.  We are a spirited, thoughtful and often surprising group who, by mutual agreement write on the same topic each Friday, this Friday’s topic supplied by our own young legal scholar, Ashok!  Check out the group’s writing by clicking on their links on the left.  It is always a fun and interesting ride.

Judgment

As I go through the stages of life, I notice that it isn’t just my body that ages changes, my mind does too.  That picture of me in the middle is probably me at my sharpest, memory I could always count on, ideas brought to the fore quickly, easy concentration.

The picture of me on the left was back in the days of innocence and wonder.  Clueless.  Cared for by giant people with all the responsibilities … and veto power.  So I used the old brain organ for pretty much whatever I wanted.  And it took forever for anything to come around that I looked forward to, so I whiled away the hours spending a lot of time in imagination.  I got really good at it.

Now, the most recent picture shows me as I am now.  Mature, decisive.  The type of man who has his own blog.  But, my memory sucks and I’m finding that a handicap watching Jeopardy.  I know the answers, I just can’t remember the names!

And, I find that I can get too much novel input and that causes me to run into bridges and forget things I intended to bring.  My best multi-tasking days are behind me.  One would think that this was a total downhill spiral.  One who was younger would think that, at least.

However, one would be wrong.  Something subtle and beautiful has entered the picture.  The ability to judge someone, some way, somehow has been added into the mix beyond what the first two stages had.  It isn’t just a matter of experience or perspective, either – although both of those definitely help.  No, it is an evolutionary internal change most appreciated, for while I would have been able to think through issues more quickly and in greater detail before, I can know my appropriate response much more easily now.  My crap detector has improved and I have less concern about directing it toward myself as well as others.

My confidence in these abilities has grown, too.  It lends a sense of authority:

That sense of easier authority, in turn, leads to less need to use it.  In turn, the lesser need to use it seems to help my ego relax.  I like it when my ego relaxes …

Is anyone else experiencing this as they age?

This is another in the Friday series of Loose Blog Consortium topics, this topic brought to us – no surprise – from Ramana, the Grand Old Man himself.  The links to the other bloggers’ is on the left side and many of them will have a fresh new posting on this topic – although some are still in stage two and may be seeking more life action than spending time judging right now!  Be patient.

Anniversaries

Today is the first anniversary of the Loose Bloggers Consortium.  There is no reward for that … nor should there be.  This group writes for the joy of writing, thinks for the joy of thinking.  If they owe anything to the universe or God, they pay it with integrity, consideration, humor and grace.

They are not snarky and petty.  They are not beholding to anyone for what they write unless appreciation and friendship count as payment.  They write for the joy and satisfaction of it.  They write for the same reason that good teachers teach and it is no surprise that they are represented disproportionately by present or former teachers, this writer included.

And there is only one emotion worthy of what I feel right now – gratitude.  Gratitude for a journey shared on its own merits.

Thank you all!

• A Creative Writer in Progress Judy
• Anu – My Realm of Imagination Anu
• Feeding Five for Fifty Helen
• gaelikaa: Out of Ireland, Into India gaelikaa
• Ginger Haag – De-Composition Ginger
• Grannymar Grannymar
• I truly am dumber than Einstein Ashok
• Magpie 11 Magpie
• Ramana’s Musings Ramana
• The Silver Fox Whispers Maria, the Silver Fox

And, our member emeritus, Marianna:

Change of Heart Stress Solutions

Letters

Every workday morning, my radio alarm awakens me with the news, while I lie there in a groggy state trying to refocus on fewer dimensions.  Then I go out to the kitchen, pour myself a cuppa Joe – and head out to the computer.  Sometimes I’ll find that someone from a foreign land has tried to call me on Skype before I got up.  Sometimes, I’ll follow up on something I heard on the news.  Sometimes, I’ll lay out what I’m going to do for my workday.  But, what I ALWAYS do is see what the gang has had to say on the email rounds!

And active they are, too.  It is kind of an extension of my blog life with a lot of the same people.  This is a funny bunch!  I love those email letters!

Part of me misses the old days, though, the days when a letter arriving in the mailbox was a special occasion.

It came right along with the catalogs and everything else.  I remember Mom telling us when we had a letter from Grandma and we kids would sit down while she read it.  That, of course, was back before handwriting was vestigial, back when people ended sentences with Ha! instead of LOL!

Now, the postal service was already pretty reliable by the time I was a kid.  You sent a letter, it got there in pretty decent time.  You wanted the postman to pick one up to send it by raising the flag on the mailbox. 

Those letters weren’t just for family, either.  I found some old love letters sent back and forth between Carol and me a few years ago … read a bit … and lapsed into a diabetic coma.

It is some form of insanity.  A few years of marriage is the cure.  They were an important part of the mating ritual just a few decades ago, though, and I wonder if ANYONE writes and sends them anymore.

As I compare our instant communication today including the written word, voice and even visual with the letters of yesteryear, the letters of my own experience, it makes me wonder how much different it would be to find yourself thousands of miles from family and communicating by, well, let’s say pony express:

Now, that’s a letter to sit around the fireplace and read!  And read again and again.  That’s a letter of which you take some time and care in the writing.  That’s a letter that someone saves.

Traveling back further in time, here’s a letter sent by the high-priest Lu’enna to the king of Lagash informing him of his son’s death in combat.  The letter was c. 2400 BC.

Now, THAT’s a letter!  How long do you think this took to “write?”  I can just hear the moms of the time now: “Sharpen your chisel, Amenhotep, your writing is almost illegible!”

I wonder what blogs were like back then??

My thanks to Grannymar for the topic offering for this week’s Friday Loose Blog Consortium offering.  If she had sent it in the form of the letter received by the King, it is highly unlikely that you would have the joy available of clicking on links on the left side of this page under Loose Blogger Consortium to see what the others have written on this topic.

But, she didn’t send it on a rock … so … leave me a brief note, a mini-letter, and check them out.

The Inessential Belongings That We Collect

Carol and I are always trying to get rid of junk.  We have a garage full of it.  We have relatives who use our house, for various reasons, for storage – something we are seeking to change just short of actually eliminating any of the relatives.

Of the more essential things around, I would count a stove and an oven and lights and a refrigerator and … well, practical things you use in day-to-day survival.  Things can be replaced for the most part and most that can’t are fine gone, for it is people, pets and relationships that matter.  However, there is an interesting class of inessential belongings that are a bit different.

Hard to know what possessed me to make these guys somewhere along the way, but I don’t think they should be tossed.  You can’t find them in a store … for a reason.  But, I made them, it was a hoot, and it makes me and Mom feel good when we look at the silly little jaspers.

The kiwi bird is blown glass around a piece of kiwi fruit from the land of the kiwis, New Zealand.  We got him as the perfect complement to the Murano glass dolphin we bought when visiting Venice.  As with the pieces below them, none of them would cause the world to stop if they disappear – but they sure bring back memories!

This hammer, refitted with another handle over the years, was the hammer used by my great grandfather, the first blacksmith in Central Kansas.  I don’t really need the hammer, because I have sledge hammers for big jobs and smaller hammers for smaller work.  It is easy to get a hammer at a store.

But, that hammer might as well be Thor’s Hammer as far as I’m concerned!  You know what I mean?

So, what it comes down to is that the least essential of the things we have are often the ones most valuable to us.  They are actually the touchstones of meaning for people.  Priceless!

What do you have that is totally unneeded in any practical sense, but that is precious to you?

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This is another in the Friday offerings of the Loose Bloggers Consortium, this topic suggested by the Magpie himself.  Check out the inessentials of the other members whose links you will find on the left under – you guessed it – LOOSE BLOGGER CONSORTIUM!

Be patient if someone doesn’t have an entry.  They may be having fun with their items as we speak.