The Scientist's Stone

For some time, individuals searched for a substance that would turn lead into gold.

In our new world, the fame and glory will go to the individual who can turn vegetable matter into oil.

Some say the world revolves around the sun. I say the world revolves around resources.

I wonder what the world would look like if our sun's energy, through natural photosynthesis, could be stored into high density chemical energy such as oil or other fuel. What resource would we fight over next? How could we justify the starving people of the world and our human organization that allows it?

I must say, the greatest danger had by taking a course on utopian literature is the intense dissatisfaction towards civilization one feels afterwards.

I highly recommend the dissatisfaction.

Priceless

It takes a lot of effort to chalk for an event. In case you didn't know, chalking is when you write some political or informative message on the sidewalk. Believe me, one doesn't chalk for a message or campaign that you don't believe in because you're inevitably sore from the effort the next day.

Anyway, today is November 7th. Today, the state of Wisconsin decides whether or not to put discrimination into its state constitution. There are chalkings everywhere you look here at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. It's evident a lot of people care about this constitutional issue. Twenty "A Fair Wisconsin Votes No" chalkings stand beside each "A Moral Wisconsin Votes Yes." However, not everybody appreciates the hard work it takes to place political messages on a sidewalk.

Recently, various individuals had taken to nocturnal sabotagings of the "Vote No" chalkings. These dubious individuals crossed out the "No" and replaced it with their own more homophobic "Yes," intending to confuse voters on which voting box to fill on voting day. So, obviously, I was concerned when I saw someone urinating on the chalkings on Library Mall.

I stood for a moment in utter silence. All that hard work and years of first amendment protections were being flushed down the toilet, all pun intended. Being the conscious and polite citizen that I am, I did the only thing I could think of at the moment. I slowly raised my camera, charged the flash, and took a picture of the man holding his greatest embarrassment in his hands. The picture is priceless... very 'deer-in-headlights.' My friend takes my cue and grabs the camera out of my hands in order to chase the two individuals down an alleyway. He takes more pictures of them as they call out creative terms to describe his sexual orientation.

"We'll make a political statement if we want to, fa&&ot," they shout as they run away.

Did I mention the picture is priceless? Anyway, to further complicate things, a police car pulls up besides me. I inform the slightly-Sapphic police officer of the recent events. She says she'll look into it and pulls after the culprits.

I sigh and look down at all the hard work the bigots had erased. Yet, for a moment, I was confused. I could barely make out the words... "Moral"... "Yes." The culprits had urinated on their own chalking, most likely due to the confusion created from the earlier sabotaging. The only anti-gay message on library mall had washed away as the two culprits cat-called back down the alley with harassing comments.

Ah, it's these moments that give me hope for the world.

Never Never

Have you ever had one of those moments when you grow up a bit? You think to yourself, "Wow, I think, from now on, things will be just a bit different than they were before. Yet, this difference isn't action or denial, it's due to a different way of looking at the world. The ways things were just were not good enough."

I had one of those moments. It wasn't life altering or anything. I was simply taking fresh sheets back from the laundry room, passing down my pink hallway in my purple dress socks. Suddenly, I realized that I knew too much about a recent situation. I mean, I had been unhappy for the last few days just because I knew too much. The world is really pretty damn messed up, a lot of it's due to people not stopping to think. I had recently caught wind of a series of disturbing events which would eventually turn back and cause quite a few problems. Unethical decisions, lack of competence, self-serving machinations... all going on without the other people knowing. They just went on their unhappy way, creating a mess.

Damn me, being an ENTP, forced into putting together the big picture. I couldn't help but take a moment and trying to figure out why things were going so... horribly, even though people weren't even talking to eachother about the problems. They just stayed in their little space and wondered why things kept getting progressively worse. After hearing a bit of the story, I knew what was coming around the corner, and it wasn't pretty.

...And for the first time, I used the early warning to run for cover. I'm tired of 'kicking the world and breaking my foot,' as a wise-person once said. I think it's time to use my leadership skills for my own benefit for a couple years. I should focus on becoming a better person, rather than focusing on making the world around me conform to my visions.

At least for a while (hopefully longer) I'm focusing on the simple things in life. I once heard a valuable piece of advice that I only half-understood before: 'If you're searching for that special someone, you have to be proactive. Make a list of all the traits you like in a person... then start doing them yourself. You shouldn't have to search far for that person you like. That person should be right there in the mirror.' I think I could deal with improving the lives of myself and those around me. I think one can lead an exemplary life just by being a good, honest individual.

It's more than many people can say.
I think wisdom is the slow process of getting tired of things.