Perspectives

Wolfboy has his first mix CD. He picked 16 songs, and named it The Jazz Music.

The playlist:

1. "Behind Blue Eyes" by the Who
2. "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath
3. "Mr. Roboto" by Styx
4. "Intergalactic" by the Beastie Boys
5. "Whip It" by Devo
6. "Karma Tsunami" by Fishbone
7. "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" by the Gap Band
8. "Maneater" by Hall and Oates
9. "Barbara Ann" by the Beach Boys
10. "Do Ya?" by Jason Falkner
11. "Whiskey in the Jar" by Metallica
12. "Fire" by the Ohio Players
13. "Jet" by Paul McCartney & Wings
14. "Connected" by Stereo MCs
15. "Jungle Boogie" by Kool & the Gang
16. "Senses Working Overtime" by XTC

By gum, I'm raisin' that kid right.

***

I've been watching the DVD of the PBS program, The Question of God. It gives biographical sketches of CS Lewis and Sigmund Freud, interspersed with expert round-table discussions regarding the question "Does God really exist?"

It's pretty fascinating stuff.

An agnostic and an atheist are present, and though I recall thinking the atheist was a real ass when I first saw this some years ago, he doesn't strike me that way now. He does have a very narrow focus though. He has one window into reality, and that's the discernment of facts as established by the scientific method.

One of the experts points out that as a woman of faith, she has more windows on reality than just that. Music, art, emotions, and yes, science.

The atheist says that there is no supernatural, just the natural and the things for which we don't yet have a natural explanation.

Would getting a natural explanation for everything discount the notion of a higher power?

We're made of all sorts of clearly-identified parts. Is the fact that those parts work in tandem when we're alive any less of a miracle?

***

I don't wiggle all the time now. I sit in class, and I don't worry that my constantly jiggling foot will annoy my classmates. It starts up for a minute, then it fades. It's like the constant motion used to sort of... hum. And the humming felt good.

But now I feel that hum without the hyperactivity.

***

Had an interesting discussion with my counseling supervisor regarding evil. A prof of mine had said that in all of his years of counseling, he'd never encountered a truly evil person. He said each client, no matter the abuse or other crime he or she had perpetrated, was not without redeeming value. I've heard more than one counselor say that even the worst abuser tends to operate...

[and THEGIRL walks in and hands me her teddy bear to hug, telling me he's scared. I hug him, and we both feel better]

...out of some twisted perspective on benevolence. The abuser thinks that he or she is doing what's necessary to create positive change. It's messed up, but I get the point.

My counseling supervisor was inclined to think that evil deeds are inversely proportionate to cognitive capacity. The more a person operates out of the functioning of primitive or "lizard" brain, the more likely they are to behave in a manner considered evil or at least repugnant by society. I find that I can't come to grips with the whitewashed notion of culpability that's part and parcel of this, however.

So was Jeffrey Dahmer not evil? Hitler?

***

I've received emails from a stranger lately. She lives in Ohio, and I sent her a CD of a great Alejandro Escovedo bootleg I've had stashed away for years. She, like many of the folks on the AE email list, is quite excited about getting it.

She tells me she has a son with significant mental retardation. He's 32, and is 6'2" and weighs 245 pounds. He has the mind of a six-year-old, and he loves Escovedo.

He helped her do a make-ready cleaning on an apartment recently, and was delighted to find that the vacated residents had left behind a six-pack of Bud Light. "Mana (sic) from Heaven," she wrote.

***

Sex.

I'm not a Dear Abby fan per se, but I agree with something I read in a column of hers years ago: Sex can't save a relationship, but it can ruin one.

Well, I say I agree with it. I have until recently. We base our perspective on sex on our culture's expectations, even beyond what is "natural." Really.

We treat it like it's some sort of entitlement, like it's absolutely essential to any intimate relationship. I'm not saying it's wrong, but that we can't discount that not every culture on the planet feels that way.

I've read in our human sexuality textbook recently about other cultures' take on it. One relegates it to an activity for teenagers and young adults. After that, when children have been born, they find it quite "natural" to lose interest in sex.

Tony Randall fathered a child in his 70s. Was he acting out of some very natural urge? Or was he out to prove something? Did he even know?

Now excuse me, Baywatch is coming on.