Homework for the Overactive Brain

Today's Quote--"Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me..."

Monday, December 02, 2002

 

Today's quote--"Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice."--Benedict Spinoza
So, I've been reading about these Canadian Peacekeepers, and well, other Peacekeepers too, but The Blue Helmets Rock! Wow, Lester Pearson had such a vision...even if today it has changed, I don't think he'd be upset. His solider diplomats are now human rights enforcers, relief workers, all kinds of things to help out the world. Yeah, I know there are imperfections in the system, they don't get a lot done sometimes, they die, etc. But, if this world is going to keep having soliders, I'm hoping to see the day when the majority of them wear the UN-Blue Helmets. Am I naieve? Probably. But looking at what they have been able to accomplish in the past, despite their failures, sometimes even because of their failures, things haven't stayed the same, and conflicts have been resolved. They buy the inordinate amounts of time diplomats need to work out the legal figures to create peace. More than that, they rebuild bridges. They deliver food, help establish schools, bring symbols of peace to war torn areas. Though the fighting may continue, at least they symbolize hope that it will end.

Obviously I've been a pretty good girl and have done some of my research. I've got my outline for Psych all written out and my presentation nearly finished. I've just started finishing up my reading for Peace Studies, but I'm a little stumped as to where to go with it all...what are the questions I'm trying to answer with all this information? Must write some out so I can go someplace. Went to the library tonight, wow, I've missed books. I mean, I've been doing lots of reading, but I was searching through the shelves to find more books, and I plopped myself on the floor, near the shelf I was thumbing through. Looking up, around, at all the books, in such utter silence, surrounded by knowledge just begging to be had, books just waiting patiently for someone to share their secrets with, waiting for those sweaty, stressed out hands, desperate for answers, desperate for facts, for knowledge, for quotes, for anything to make sense of it all, waiting for those hands to reach out, pull them down from the shelf and open them to the world. To air out their ideas, their pages, their contents. Each pair of eyes gives a book new life. Waiting for all that, or for the end of time, the end of books, the end of their usefulness. No complaints to be heard from them, though. Silent, waiting, calm. So sure their message will help, their words can teach, the answers are contained within their pages. I wish I had time to tend to them all, time to sit quietly and talk with them, air them out, read their wisdom, their 'facts', their lives. The silence of a research library has a holy tinge to it, almost as if the shleves of books held the eternal secrets to life, the air itself had to be still, had to bend around them, bowing to their divine presence. I had to sit in awe for a few moments. Maybe I just need to get out more. I'm getting all excited about K-Mart and the Library. What does that say about my mental state? Finals. That's all I gotta say. *LOL*

GL 12:19 AM