I was immediately reminded of a game that I've never understood. Rock-paper-scissors never made sense to me --still doesn't. So many things have not made sense to me.
50 years ago, I was in college learning to be confused. I was successful. I was good at it! I learned humans developed intelligence to protect themselves from their own kind. I remembered the excellent JFK quote, "Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."
That still didn't help me with rock-paper-scissors --but that was the past. That was yesterday. Another thing I learned in school is a clock only measures its face. The real difference between yesterday and today --and likewise, tomorrow-- cannot be physically measured by a clock or nailed down in our brains. It is an interval that gives onto infinity. Even the seasons, like 100 degrees Fahrenheit (today) cannot dislodge themselves from cyclic orbital rhythm. It means I can only set down drinks that ants crawl into and die.
I am pleased to have solved the enigma of rock-paper-lizard by discovering the the misnomer, "scissors", and discarding it. I nearly wrote 'throwing it out' but you should never throw scissors.
You are not alone in making a home in confusion.
ReplyDeleteAnd how I love rock paper lizard. I would always choose lizard.
Thanks EC, for company in confusion. I too think lizards are preferable to scissors --except in manicures.
DeleteThanks so much for reprising the JFK quote. What an antidote for the clatter of this age!
ReplyDeleteAs for learning to be confused-bravo! I used to want to "understand", dismissing the idea that somethings can't be explained. Now I'm content to stand next to the mystery and simply marvel at things like a "four footed procession of cohesive pea-gravel..." And thank you also for making a 2.0 version of the old game...I like Rock Paper, Lizard. I think that would make a swell name for a band as well!
Tom, I feel privileged to have entered my teens during an articulate and forward-thinking administration. I know JFk wasn't perfect, but he was good enough to model Captain Kirk on.
DeleteRock, paper, scissors was too sophisticated for the group I played with. We were more the Icka bicka soda cracker,
ReplyDeleteIcka bicka boo;
Icka bicka soda cracker
Out goes Y-O-U.
No thinking or strategy involved. I lived in the Bronx, we did things simple and never ran with scissors.
Dear Arleen, don't know how you did it but you reminded me of another Kennedy, B.L. Kennedy, author of "Been Born Bronx" who arrived in Sacramento in the '70s and revived the poetry scene here. One of his poems was prefaced with
Delete“'Is that the sun up there?
I don’t know I’m just a stranger in town.'—The Three Stooges."
I've never heard "Icka bicka soda cracker", but would love to. We used other rhymes to choose team captains.
Little guy really blends in, doesn't he?!
ReplyDeleteIt's good to have one enigma solved, at least :)
O_Jenny, there are little critters in abundance now that the weather has warmed. A tiny tree frog hopped onto my chest while I was showering this evening. I tried to defenestrate him but he came back through the window and lit on my privates. I grabbed him again and took him out the back door to lead a more rewarding life --but not before realizing we were two naked creatures in a big universe. Glad it was dark.
DeleteLOL! I'm glad you helped him out (literally)!
DeleteThanks Jenny. The little guys (guys 'til proven otherwise) are so gentle --about thumbnail size right now but they'll get a little larger his summer-- they feel like drop of rain landing on your skin. They're very cooperative once you get you a hand around them and trust you to take them to the great outdoors.
DeleteI am currently reading The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, and I'm thinking I should discuss this with you some day.
ReplyDeleteRock-Paper-Lizard is now top of mind, however, and I'm going to work it into conversation at work. :-)
Hugs and Kisses,
Pearl
Dear Pearl, I would love to discuss Oliver Sack's book with you after I've read it. Would also love to see the Michael Nyman opera of it. I knew the title had to do with a patient suffering visual agnosia. It was a very busy decade here (the'80s?). Yes, it's time I caught up. Hugs,kisses appreciated. Glad you're back.
Deleteor lizards(throw them I mean)
ReplyDeleteDear Delores, I agree: lizards should never be thrown because they are designed to scamper. I firmly believe air-travel upsets them. Treefrogs and squirrels love to fling themselves into space, but not lizards.
DeleteGeo:
ReplyDeleteThank you SO very much for the JFK quote, "Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."! For some unknown reason I had not known of it before. It is truly wonderful!!! I will be using it in an up coming class.
“Rock, paper, lizard” also was a delightful concept for me. Again, I sincerely thank you. Your writing tends to give me a sense of peace and wholeness.... and I look forward to each new “Enigma” essay.
I am also glad to know I am not the only one with the same pattern of finding errant pipes. I am not sure if you continue to refrain at this time, but I am approaching my 16th month. Sometimes it is now relatively simple, *almost* easy to refrain, but still on occasion the loss still feels as if a burden.
PipeTobacco
Dear Prof., thanks for the encouragement, and for the company of your good mind. I do occasionally smoke my pipe, but not nearly so often as I used to. Favorite tobacco of half a century has gone out of production --and 10 years of retirement has practically relaxed me out of the habit. Your successful Lenten Resolve is admirable.
DeleteEeny, meeny, miney, Mo; Catch a . . . Wait! Did we really say that back in my kidhood? 'Fraid we did, not knowing any better. I like your "learning to be confused." And, as always, my compliments to the work of your eyeballing spouse.
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, yes. I'd forgotten. We had so much history to get rid of back then. Everybody did. This is why the '60s Civil Rights Movement was so important -- to learn what was hurtful, socially regressive, stuck in minds and attitudes far beyond childhood. Fortunately most humans grew up to learn all human phenotypes are Homo Sapiens, one race. Unfortunately, some still don't get the idea --don't or won't see the truth. Happiness is knowing better.
Delete