It's not that winter is cold, though that can be off-putting, or that there's snow on the ground, though that does make it more of a workout at times, but the short day-lengths... there's just no way for me to get out walking when it gets dark at 4:30 and I don't get off work till 5:30. So I get very few walks in these days (and take fewer photos).
Which is unfortunate, because as my mom and I have discussed, walking and just being in nature is beneficial on a variety of levels, for reasons science doesn't fully understand yet. That it is true, though, is beginning to show up in nearly every study that has looked at the question.
Here's one of the more recent ones, and offers familiar scenery to me, having done a lot of walking in both the natural and downtown areas of Ann Arbor:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081218122242.htm
In this one, the results seem to show that being in nature is actually more beneficial than the walking itself, that the scenery offers more than the activity.
Scenery I still have... I catch glimpses of it out the windows, and it is nice, and much appreciated after living in Sam's basement for a year. I still think I need an exercise bike or something, though.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Ramblings concerning Obama and Rick Warren
World of Warcraft is down for maintenance. That means I actually have to use my brain for thinking. I wrote this as a response to another blog post, but deciding I didn't much care for that blog anyway, I'll post it here as well, where people whose opinions I already know I trust (if not always agree with) with might read it, because that is more satisfactory, despite everything.
I disagree strongly with some of what Rick Warren stands for, not least of which is his stand on gay marriage. I believe there is something fundamentally wrong with making marriage between any two consenting, of-age adults illegal. The "definition of marriage" isn't 5,000 years old, as Mr. Warren believes... it changes nearly every generation, and most probably with every marriage. It ought to be a right for everyone of legal age to make their own definition of marriage, to make their own unions. That it is not, is a prime example of the failing of equality in this country.
That said, I have no disagreement at all with Obama choosing Warren to deliver his invocation. It's a wonderful example of what I like and respect about Obama. So many people, and especially politicians (because it's PC to do so) place people in categories of right and wrong, good and bad, either/or, black or white, based on one opinion, vote, or association. "You said, did, or associated with someone who said/did [insert undesirable opinion here], hence you must be Wrong." The McCain campaign did this to Obama in the worst way, suggesting Obama was Wrong because he had tenuous ties to a very tenuous "terrorist." If you cast too critical an eye, everyone is viewed to be on the wrong side of Right, and you're only able to hear opinions which already align with your own, until opinion becomes dogma and anything else is heresy.
I think it takes a wise person to say, I may disagree with some of what you think, but I can respect you anyway, hear you anyway, and try to learn from you. I voted for Obama because I believe he is a wise man. If he chooses to ask "Pastor Rick" to deliver his invocation, I will trust in his wisdom and in the possibility that people whom I disagree with in some respects might still have something worthwhile to say, and to listen to.
I disagree strongly with some of what Rick Warren stands for, not least of which is his stand on gay marriage. I believe there is something fundamentally wrong with making marriage between any two consenting, of-age adults illegal. The "definition of marriage" isn't 5,000 years old, as Mr. Warren believes... it changes nearly every generation, and most probably with every marriage. It ought to be a right for everyone of legal age to make their own definition of marriage, to make their own unions. That it is not, is a prime example of the failing of equality in this country.
That said, I have no disagreement at all with Obama choosing Warren to deliver his invocation. It's a wonderful example of what I like and respect about Obama. So many people, and especially politicians (because it's PC to do so) place people in categories of right and wrong, good and bad, either/or, black or white, based on one opinion, vote, or association. "You said, did, or associated with someone who said/did [insert undesirable opinion here], hence you must be Wrong." The McCain campaign did this to Obama in the worst way, suggesting Obama was Wrong because he had tenuous ties to a very tenuous "terrorist." If you cast too critical an eye, everyone is viewed to be on the wrong side of Right, and you're only able to hear opinions which already align with your own, until opinion becomes dogma and anything else is heresy.
I think it takes a wise person to say, I may disagree with some of what you think, but I can respect you anyway, hear you anyway, and try to learn from you. I voted for Obama because I believe he is a wise man. If he chooses to ask "Pastor Rick" to deliver his invocation, I will trust in his wisdom and in the possibility that people whom I disagree with in some respects might still have something worthwhile to say, and to listen to.
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