Blog of the Little Bonsai

Personal Blog of Steve Baumber

One week back at work, and one more mouth to feed in the Recruiting world. Kate has joined our happy few as the second associate recruiter to recruit students into Forestry. She's bright and keen and it promises to be a good winter of getting the message out.

On Sunday we went and saw Big Fish. Enjoyed it a lot and it reminded me of a book Rosemary and I read during our travels in Costa Rica - Life of Pi. At the heart of both the movie and the book is the place of stories in our lives, and what we choose to believe - the choice between what we consider reality and what we accept with faith. The reality we commonly accept is the sum of our day to day personal experiences, education, media, etc. But what happens when someone tells us of their own personal experiences? We judge the validity of them according to our own experience, our own reality. We may query them on certain facts we don't trust, or the timeline of events. But when we lack first hand knowledge of something we have to rely on their version. We have to choose to believe, to trust that they aren't lying. To have faith in the story.

From this idea we can leap even further. When we hear a story, and the events of it seem unlikely or even impossible, we have a choice. To assume the story teller is lying and discount their story, or to have faith in their version of things. Both the movie and the book hinge on one moment, where characters are faced with choosing between a "fact"-based set of events that fits the rules of their reality or the alternate version from the story teller which they can't believe. The question becomes simple, "If point A is known, and point B is known, and you weren't there, what does it matter what the "actual" version of events leading from point A to point B is? Why wouldn't you prefer an impossible version over something you'd rather accept?" Ultimately the characters choose to have faith; to accept the impossible version of events. We're supposed to find that accepting that extraordinary things are possible is better than being limited to our usual mundane daily reality. And what a short hop it is from their to religion.

Another set of events we can neither prove nor disprove, and so we are free to accept any of the various scriptures from any religion. If you are fervant it is "The Truth", but for most it is a choice. The religious live in a world in which they have faith in a number of stories, and essentially justify their daily conduct based on a set of rules laid down in these stories. They choose the version of events and guidelines that suits them best, either because they readily fit their exisiting concept of reality, they resolve emotional questions and issues that a person has been grappling with, or they've been indoctrinated since youth and can not or will not justify an alternate choice.

Another reality is that we spend millions of dollars to support addicts, the disabled and the geriatric, while a young boy dies in Angola for lack of a simple blood transfusion. We live in a world where people can die from complicaitons due to obesity and elsewhere die from starvation. And somewhere in the middle of this, in being conscious of this enormous disparity, it seems we have the choice to accept our own existence in an affluent western society, or be made miserable with guilt.

Thank God for religion...

posted by Steve @ 8:21 PM

1.13.2004

We arrived on the 31st, but no great New Year's eve extraveganza, except a big ole Texas steak dinner with Wayne. Wayne has an awesome house in Murphy, on the outskirts of Dallas, and has room for several small families, so we relaxed at his home and watched DVDs. Rosemary and I are currently scheming how we could comute from there.

A day in Dallas is not complete without a visit to the Sixth Floor Museum in the old Texas Book Depository building. For those in the know, this is the place where Lee Harvey Oswald, tracing the back of JFK's head through a telescopic sight, allegedly fired three shots down to Dealey Plaza. Very spooky to be there having been inundated with the images from the Zapruder film for so many years.

That evening we saw Lord of the Rings III and the next day was some quick shopping and back to Vancouver.

From unseasonably warm temperatures in Dallas, to sub-zero weather and snow in Vancouver! Winter is certainly here, and driving today was reminiscent of Calgary with snowy streets, and a clear, cold, sunny day. We had a quick visit with friends last night, and now it's back to work tomorrow .

Last night Rosemary's parents had their van broken into and several things stolen. After careful cataloguing today, the theft was not as bad as it could have been, but they need to replace a window, and replace the items that were stolen. Damn thieves. I am once again hoping faceless bastards have bad karma.

A sour event to start the New Year, but one must know bitter to taste sweet, right? Humph!

posted by Steve @ 9:12 PM

1.04.2004