Meridian

Segment I –Best
Extremes are one thing I believe I can live my life without. Now in reality I understand that my anti-federalist beliefs to some may be extreme, and perhaps they are, but there is a difference in my mind between being extreme to the exclusion of opposites, and an educated worldview that leads one to a specified conclusion of political-theology. I’m not extreme, merely following the most logical path I see. Or if I am extreme, I am a common person in a world of extremists.
There are many extremes of all kinds; mental, emotional, physical, etc. Though traditionally considered a “new age” philosophy, it’s been on my mind recently that life should be lived in balance, not extreme. It is entirely impossible for any person to be truly happy, nay even content while living one extreme and failing to see their deficiency in another.
People should be the best they can be. But how does one go about defining “best” in this instance? Does being the best you can be mean being better than others? Does it mean excelling in an intellectual pursuit, or physical endeavor? Who is better, a Nobel Prize winner or an Olympic gold medalist? Is there even a comparison?
Indeed there is. I would say that they both are secondary, or even tertiary in rank. Though a gold medalist, while perhaps perfect in his own class and genre, is one example of extreme. Incredible physical condition in lieu of mental, emotional, spiritual, and perhaps even in eau of healthy living. Is this not an extreme in another form? How many great athletes are those who skipped college, or only attended college in order to practice their sport?
Not long ago I read an article in which some powerful news organization sought out the twenty most attractive men in one city. I looked through their results with some dismay. While all the men were well-muscled, broad shouldered, early thirties men with flawless skin, their professions and hobbies were almost exclusively firemen, athletes, body builders, and construction workers. Nothing wrong with any of these professions in and of themselves, but commonly they are found to be lacking in non-physical stimulation. I rejoiced to find among the ranks of these paragons of physical perfection, a single lawyer. What I thought was a hope was dashed, however, when I learned that he was a low-end paper/business lawyer, who had not been in front of a judge. A person whose life was spent mandating regulations, rather than interpreting law and applying skills of logic, reason and rhetoric. Yet more examples of another extreme: attractiveness and alternate physical perfection.
If one were to look into the greatest minds living in our age, or even the average intellectual mind, it would not be too much of a stretch to assume that while their minds were well trained, and their knowledge of one or two areas are vast, their understanding of unrelated arts and sciences would be limited and their physical fitness or even health would be lacking. Unlike the image that movies and television have produced, Doctors, lawyers, scientists, and researchers do not look like Brad Pitt, Jessica Alba, or Patrick Swayze.
By now a common theme has emerged. Let me add a playful metaphor. A human being is like a house: the muscles and bone are the lumber and drywall, plumbing and electronics are the mind and spirit, the furniture and windows are the looks overall. Perhaps not the greatest examples or comparisons, but the idea is there. Take away one of these parts and the house would not be livable.
The word “college” is interpreted in the mind of modern academics to be a place of higher education. But think for a second of the other uses, or the true meaning of that word. A “college of thought” is a single viewpoint on a single topic, limited to its own sphere of understanding. Thusly, when in reference to an educational institution, the “college” is in its truest form a place to learn about a single subject. However, in modern academia a College is not understood to be what it is. Colleges and even high schools (school having the same root definition as college, being a point of single focus) are not places of truly global education.
Colleges masquerade as the idea they have replaced: that of the university. Examine the word university, and you will find its main component to be “universal”. Thus a university, by definition, is a place of learning in which the mind is broadened to all possibilities, ideas, sciences, and arts. Alas, in its truest form, a university would even require someone seeking to further himself or herself to maintain a state of physical status equal to that of their intellectual knowledge.
As a hopeful student of law, I understand the need for single-minded vocational training in law school, but in order to be a complete person, I have to continually exercise all parts of my person, on mind and body. How can I be the best if I train my mind and lose my health, or become a great athlete and forget my intelligence?
None of this is to say that there is anything wrong with athleticism or knowledge, but even the Bible and Quran agree that all things should be attained in moderation. The New age philosophers believe in balance, Buddhists believe in oneness and wholeness. This is not a matter of religion it is a matter of being the best you can be.

Segment II- On the other hand

When the chips are down, the buffalo is empty.

Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't.

Pardon my driving; I'm reloading.

Nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiently talented fool.

Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

Mind Like A Steel Trap = rusty and illegal in 37 states

The only substitute for good manners is fast reflexes.

What is a committee? A group of the unwilling, picked from the unfit, to do the unnecessary.

The graduate with a science degree asks, "Why does it work?" The graduate with an engineering degree asks, "How does it work?" The graduate with an accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?" The graduate with a liberal arts degree asks, “Do you want fries with that?"

Karate is a form of martial arts in which people who have had years and years of training can, using only their hands and feet, make some of the worst movies in the history of the world

No matter how great your triumphs or how tragic your defeats -- approximately one billion Chinese couldn't care less.

Segment III- Terminate

Abort73.com

Segment IV- Goal

Goodness knows what is going to happen in the next five to seven years. Conservative Christians dub our current president as a destroyer, while the other side hails him as a savior. I don’t call him anything but a man, put in a position of power by men. Granted I disagree with him on most everything. I’m not sure still just how much I’m going to separate myself from him. I do see things about Obama that establish what I think of him, but unlike most, I honestly don’t believe he is going to make that much of a difference in the landscape of the future.
Within the next seven years, there are several things in my life I would like to see, and which I have set as goals to work towards. A House and land that I can call my own, even if the bank owns a certain percent of it. Considering the strange fluctuation of gas prices, a Honda Goldwing is my transportation of choice, and is another goal. Part of my conservative bent, as well as my desire above nearly all others to exercise in ever possible way, physically, mentally, and politically, in this case, have led me to make the decision to buy at lease one practical firearm each year till I’m thirty. True the sheer number of such an ideal rules out its own practicality, but it’s a goal, and the worst I can do is fail.
Economy is going to be the greatest factor in the next five years of my life. College is currently the most heady and sizable problem, but they are like boulders in a line; the largest one is only the one that is closest to you. Even so I am currently occupying at least three hors every day in a frantic search for scholarships. Someone in my position is not really in any place to receive money for college. Hillsdale prides itself on not taking any government money, and I’m not any academic or athletic standout, leaving me no options in those departments. Another dream/goal of mine is to pay my parents back 100% of what they paid for my schooling by the time I’m twenty-eight. That’s not looking like a strong prospect right now.
While I, again, don’t think that Obama will be the end of all freedom, or the beginning of a new era, I do feel that one-day things will not be as they are now. Freedoms and rights, while intrinsic and natural, but they are not without cost, nor without repercussion. Like eating is a natural part of life, it is necessary and to be enjoyed, but a person has to learn to feed themselves or they will die. In the same way rights, while a natural necessity, must be both trained and worked for. For generations now, we have been a complacent nation for so long we are forgetting how to eat. So for my impractical desire to buy a new weapon every year for the next 11 years, it is merely my way of making sure my own rights aren’t forgotten.
I have some direct, yet unusual goals set for my life before twenty-five. Perhaps pipedreams, but I know without goals, even impossible ones, my years will become a waste, and I have seen too many of my generation lose themselves in pointless living. There are no words for the feeling in my heart when I explain my goals and dreams for the near future. The logic of it is hard to express for me. Even so there it is, in part. My work out plan for life.

SEGMENT V- Friends

http://nathan0antien.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/explanations-2/

Segment VI- Incubus

I'm at the end of my ribbon again
For those who own to apathy
You had the perfect opportunity
But pled the Fifth and walked away

Oh! Say something
Make us proud
Cast the first stone
Say any anything at all

Make a move
For every one thing we're ignorant of
A thousand more things beat the maze, yeah
You saw the apple hanging on a tree
But missed the orchard in your gaze

I'm cautious of who I would call a friend
Who you aquaint is who you are
The darkest hours are when we choose a side
So make your pick and take a fall