Marking

One of the ways to describe what happens in a language is to notice markers in language.  In English, the nouns are marked.  Nouns don't occur in English without marking it as singular or plural, general, specific, unmeasured, or abstract.  So, if I want to use the name of something, I have choices to make.  The first choice is to mark the word as plural or singular, which is done in a millionth of a second.  The next choice is to mark the name with specificity or not (a/an or the) followed by the choice of abstract or concrete, measured or unmeasured, both in about a hundred thousandth of a second.

We decided to move tables today.                             
We decided to move a table today.                           
We decided to move the table today. 

 I want coffee this morning.
 I want a coffee this morning.
I want the coffee I had yesterday.

Sometimes marking happens as a word in front of a noun.  Sometimes marking happens as a last letter in the word, a suffix.  Sometimes words are marked by word order.  For example, nouns appear both before and after a verb.  The one before causes the action when using active voice.  The one after receives the action. Thus, word order distinguishes between a subject noun and an object noun.

Volcanoes pour lava onto the ground below them.

Other types of words are marked as well so that English can be well understood by millions of listeners, but this part of the naming process of English is used as an example.

I know that my life has markers in its different compartments, too. I was brought up in a very strict and religious home.  That compartment of my life remains to this day because it has always been one of the possible categories for me in life.  However, I have chosen to mark it in different ways as I have traveled through my experiences.  The marking is one of the ways I communicate who I am to others.  Education is another compartment which I have marked.  Treatment of others, work ethic, view of rule-keeping - I have marked each of these categories for myself in different ways.

Love is no different.  I have marked this category in ways for others to understand as well.  One of the ways was by having children for posterity. But the most significant way was to designate one person as the one for whom my heart beats, life's one true love.  One of these was marked early in my life, one late, but marked nonetheless.  And the markings were made so that I could communicate who I am and what I mean so that anyone who sees me knows what the markings mean.  I didn't create the marking system, but I learned how to use it well and deliberately.

It's not hidden

The question of how a language is learned has been studied for several millennia.  It's an ancient question.  For that reason it ought to be clear what the process is for learning a new language.  But, that is not the case.  Well, if you believe Rosetta Stone, you think it's clear (or Berlitz, Pimsleur, Living Language, or the name of a 100 other companies).

But if it's true that a person can learn a language in a matter of a few months rather easily, then when I look around at all the countries of the world, I should see a great number of bilingual, trilingual people.  I do see a few pockets of proof of this theory.  Swiss denizens, South African, Ukranian, and a few others do learn 2 or more languages just from growing up in a multilingual environment.  But most people in the world don't.  Why not? It's so easy, right?

Upon further study by modern scholars, variables enter into the equation when learning a language.  One's age when learning a language, for example, yields different results.  One's purpose for learning matters.  The method used sometimes facilitates or impedes learning a language.  Other factors also enter into the picture, such as educational background, opportunity for use, and societal status of each language.  All these factors should make the learning process transparent and easy because methods could and have been made to take into account all of the factors affecting language learning.

But, even if there were a hundred factors in learning language, it should be easy by now, given the thousands of years people have been learning and speaking other languages. Modern people have left it to the schools rather than language scientists to teach languages to people. The schools have used various models for teaching languages, but it still takes place in an artificial environment with the accompaniment of textbooks.  In light of all the years of practice and all the years of research, schools have not changed their approach, regardless of model.  In addition, businesses which have specialized in training people in language have adopted the schools' various models as their approaches.

Evidently, these models are flawed.  It's still a daunting task to learn a language. The research has been done, however, and the process is a known process.  It's not hidden.  It's just that foreign language departments, schools, and businesses are not listening or looking to the available language science.  Wouldn't it be nice for people of nations to speak to each other regardless of language.  They could.  Easily. So be it.

Again

I was talking to a friend today who mentioned that he had started again three times in the same business.  He spoke of the first time as merely having a passing interest in a business that wasn't really what he liked doing, but he participated in the financing of the business so as to have partial ownership.  The others involved in the ownership decided to abandon ship nearly a year later, so he had to start again. This time he was with a friend and former coworker of his wife who ran the business.  In a moment of personal desperation from economic straits, the friend bailed.  So, he had to start again.  This time he is very personally involved and giving personal time, money and effort.  He was animated as he spoke of this third time and of all the plans he was excited to implement.

I admire people who can start again... and again and again.  That kind of tenacity is something I don't see often.  People more often are complacent or they retreat into the familiar and the comfortable when adversity arises.  I have had all three responses to life's circumstances.  I've refused to get involved due to complacency before.  The opportunity passed me by, but I learned from the experience.  I've retreated back to the familiar before when something adverse has occurred.  That helped me recover a little, but it didn't do much of anything to advance my desires and ambitions.  And I've gone for broke on a number of occasions.  Not very many of those occasions worked out for the best, but the impact on my personality, emotions, and stamina has made my character richer for the wear.

More coins in the pocket is certainly the reason for nearly all the occasions I gave it my all.  At some point, I hope, I will have a rich character and its corollary, coins in the pocket.  I just have to remember the formula - again... and again, and again.

A view like this

There is something sobering about seeing Earth in the distance from the Martian surface.  It takes the platitude of thinking outside the box to a new and higher level.  It is so abnormal to see the Earth at a distance that it makes you feel as if you are an alien looking in on the activities of humans.  "Those Earthlings need to have a view like this," you tell yourself.  "Then they wouldn't really be the way they are."

The rover Curiosity, transmitting from the moon, allows for such views.  That's what scientific inquiry does for any who would follow its principles.  It allows one to see the bigger picture,  to appreciate the wonder of accomplishment and the challenge of the yet unknown.   It causes a hundred different thoughts to pulse through your mind, to view something  from a really, really different vantage point.

I congratulate one who is now looking at Earth, marveling at her accomplishment, saying "Those Earthlings need to have a view like this."  Now the world is at your beck and call.  I know you will change what you see and touch the world to heal it.  I am always proud of you my Godgyfu.

Die with a smile

Some people do well as long as they know what the baseline is.  They need rules to follow so that they are sure they are accomplishing what they can keep up with.  This is not only true for religious people, but it is especially true for them.  They like to be able to put a check by their prayers 5 times a day or by the number of kindnesses they do for people.  That is the way they know they are good people, accomplishing the tenets of their faith.  But even without religion people seem to depend on all the rules of society to keep them locked into doing right things or being productive, acting responsibly.

I know why there are rules.  Don't murder someone seems like basic living to me, but some have a different psyche from mine, so they need the enforcement of murder penalties to deter them from murdering.  I also understand the idea of contracts.  People have a hard time living up to a contract when their living conditions change from the time the contract was signed.  What I don't understand is why people depend on so many rules and regulations for daily living.

Why do people want rules (even if they are self-imposed) to follow about which words they deem offensive and which they want to hear, for example?  I know a person who will not attend any movie because they contain expletives she has conditioned herself to believe are offensive.  It's the tone of voice, not the word that usually determines if a word is offensive or not.  Sometimes it is the subject, not the word that determines offensiveness.  In the 1500s and 1600s people would swear "by the rood."  In Edward DeVere's plays (Shakespearean plays), "'Zounds" was used quite a bit.  The first was swearing by the cross, the second  was an expression of disgust meaning "God's Wounds."  So some religious people at that time thought the subject was inappropriate. Ironically, the religious people of today think it's all right to swear by the Bible or by Heaven. Their prohibited subjects are sexual acts or body parts.  People are so fickle!

Or why do people want rules about role propriety?  In the workplace, people are slighted all the time just because they are not the "right" gender; sometimes they have the wrong color of pigment in their skin, tatoos or piercings on their skin, or their skin is too pale or too tanned (people make moral judgments using paleness or tanned skin, believe it or not).  Sometimes a bilingual person is slighted because one of the languages is not considered prestigious.  My goodness.  Just pick the right person with the right skills and everything else will take care of itself.

There are literally 100s of rules in a society that people want to follow.  I don't get it.  Have the number of rules it takes for people to live peaceably together and then enjoy the diversity and wonder of life.  Rules break us down, making us monotonous people who don't achieve our best.  Rules keep the mind restricted from thinking what is possible. Rules keep the workplace quiet and controlled (like sedation); they don't allow elements that help advance thought in a creative, dynamic, bustling, and vibrant environment.  Rules impede progress, dampen spirits, and restrict the enjoyment of what comes natural.

I'm sure I break 10 rules a day somewhere as I go through daily living.  But after I missed the one opportunity of lifetime 5 years ago, I have decided to skip all but the necessary rules and live more fully.  The road to the end is not as long as it used to be, so the remainder of the road is going to be much less filled with living out rules and much more filled with fulfilling lif'e's natural joys, being around compatible people, attending events that satisfy, and having proximity to those I trust.  I will then die with a smile on my lips, saying to others that life was worth it.

Disappearing distinctions

A recent conversation I had was flowing nicely when it turned to the difference between wisdom and knowledge.  The Bible was cited about knowledge (of God) being the beginning of wisdom and then was added the adage, "The smart man knows what to say, but the wise man knows whether to say it or not."

I get the distinction.  But, the world has changed 100 times since the first words were coined around 1000 BCE.  The second adage is recent but was coined based on the 3000-year-old observation.  The modern person really doesn't view things in the same light. Perspectives are different.  Knowledge is power.  Knowledge gets you a job you wouldn't otherwise have.  Knowledge allows for promotions and prestige, respect and trust.  There's no difference between the smart man and the wise man because a prudent person will gain more knowledge in one of 10,000 different possible fields of interest in order to make his or her life better.  Companies offer training sessions for everything under the sun and give endorsements, licenses, certifications, and certificates for those sessions.  Universities offer a whole host of formal trainings from A.A. to M.D.

Yeah, it's a different world.  Wise and smart are distinctions from the east, not from the west.  Westerners draw their boundaries differently.  The age of scientific inquiry is for everyone, and everyone participates in order to get ahead.  And in the really, really modern world, formal training is not the end.  The internet makes it possible to find out about any tidbit of knowledge that has been written about anywhere in the world in any language of the world.  Learning never has to end and it is always current.

While it might be interesting to see how the ancient world made its distinctions in society, those distinctions have morphed into a seamless world, no such boundaries still exist.  Having knowledge and being smart are equivalent phrases, but so are having knowledge and being prudent or judicious.  As for me, I would rather live in a seamless world and appreciate the knowledge of an ancient culture for what it meant to them than to try to apply a 3000-year-old axiom to a modern world where the paradigm is so different that people no longer understand the old one without help.

That hot, hot year

Today was unusual. Weather records for today go back 125 years, and in that length of time, the day's temperature has never been more than 85 degrees.  But, today was different.  The mercury decided to continue its journey upward.  86-87-88-89-90.  A new record -21 degrees above the average temperature for a 125 year span. The season is still winter believe it or not.

I love anomalies.  They beg many questions.  What was different in the weather pattern today that has not been extant for 125 years?  For a winter that is close to having record low temperatures for the most number of days below 32 degrees, why is there a day that is so out of character from the rest of the season? Why was this spot the hottest spot by 4 degrees from any other spot in a 20 county area?  What kept the temperature from reaching hotter temperatures?  Why was it so hot when a higher than usual wind speed accompanied the heat wave?  Wind usually has a cooling effect on the air.

Sometimes things happen to us that beg questions.  They're great mysteries.  They've never happened to us before.  They seem to be disconnected to what has happened before.  No one would have predicted their occurrence.  I've had such an anomaly, a hottest year ever by more than just a little in the winter of my life.  It was the greatest pleasure to have happened to me, ever.  That year is sacred to me.  Thus far, it's an anomaly... but I long for its return... I would love for it to become my average.

Deep and intense

In 1995, the BBC wanted to know what poems the people of the British isles loved to read the most. Number 15 on that list was The Highwayman.  I guess I am a hopeless romantic, but I like the poem too, and have liked it since I was in 9th grade where I read it for the first time.  From then until now, I have read the poem probably 50 times or more.

The highwayman loves Bess; she loves him.  The intensity of their love comes later in the poem when The highwayman rides through the night back to see Bess, carrying his spoils from the night.  She warns him of the danger lying in wait for him, but it costs her her life. He doesn't know that, so he rides to be by her side, and it costs him his life.  Deep, intense love.

The last two stanzas of Part One are written below.  These stanzas represent the entire poem to me

“One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I’m after a prize to-night,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,  
Then look for me by moonlight,
         Watch for me by moonlight,
I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way.”

He rose upright in the stirrups. He scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair in the casement. His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;  
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
         (O, sweet black waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the west.


I guess I'm a hopeless romantic... but it could happen.  Deep.  Intense.

The most beautiful word in the universe

"Yes" is a beautiful word.  I like hearing it.  It means that all is well, that progress is being made, that I get to realize something I worked hard for. Sometimes it means that I have been accepted or that I will get to experience the pleasurable side of life.  "No," of course, means everything that "Yes" doesn't.  I loathe hearing the two-letter word.  It has stopped me in my tracks too many times.

I have heard the word "Yes" a number of times in my life, when I met a goal, or when work smiled on me and I got to add to my load or receive the next level of work.  On the other hand, I have heard the word "No" quite a bit of the time.  The work I enjoyed so much came to a screeching halt, when a devious superior influenced a person in charge to tell me "No."  The dream I pursued once never happened because someone who held my future was swayed by another to tell me "No."  What I wanted to have as my life's work received a resounding "No!" The night I cried out for the life of my child, the answer, "No" was even louder.  The one change I wanted to make in my life a few years back depended on hearing "Yes."  Instead, "Yes" was not forthcoming at that time.

"No" is not the stuff of dreams. It thwarts, deters, reroutes, frustrates, and halts goals, hard work, pleas, reasoning, and dreams.

"Yes," however, is a beautiful word.  I love to move forward, to realize dreams and ambitions, to enjoy the fruit of my labor, and especially to make changes.  I listen for the word "Yes" even now.  I'm ready.

Fairy tale ending

Pompeii is that city forever encapsulated in the fires and ash of Mt. Vesuvius.  The story surrounding the city's demise is well documented both from geology and history. People from the day wrote about it. Even an eyewitness account exists. It's easy to know what happened. It's emotionally riveting to know what happened as well.  Bodies litter the floors of some of the buildings and houses, couples that died together, soldiers that stood to protect to the very end, individuals that we would like to know more of their existence.

The movie Pompeii captured the last seconds of the people in the city very well. It matched the eyewitness account well.  In Hollywood fashion, a love story was added to the script.  I'm sure there was one.  The couple that died together seems to tell that tale.  But, the movie did a fantastic job of showing a couple's love through the last second of their existence.

I have often wondered what it would be like to die with the one you love.  This movie captured it the best I have ever seen. It happened as I would imagine it should happen.  And even if I don't get the fairy tale version of dying with the one I love, I at least would like to die in the presence of the one I love.  It would be the best way to end something here and start something new elsewhere.