June 1, 2025: Potpourri

Men and nations behave wisely when they have exhausted all other resources. Abba Eban

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?  John Belushi

Facts—ah, slippery things can they be. The Interpreted Yoda

Gotta love the term “nervous-system”—it’s a tell!  Brought to you by The Random Cornucopia, a division of Book-in-a-Drawer Publications, © 2025, all rights reserved. 

Disclosure: I made up the Yoda stuff. That’s a duh!  But I do get nervous about misrepresentations, especially if I didn’t at least try to clarify.

All this because I listened to a delightful interview by Desi Lydic, one of the Daily Show hosts, with Jon Meacham, famed historian, who was discussing the importance of facts, but misquoted John Belushi (without losing the humor or intention of the quote) and then attributed a version of the Abba Eban quote to Winston Churchill.  Nonetheless, the points he made were not lost on me, misquotes and all.

I am not criticizing Jon Meacham, who wouldn’t surprise me if he owned the misquotes.

My point is that we can lament the lack of objective facts by presenting misquotes as facts and still get it right. Be careful when and how we are dismissive.

To discern who gets a pass, there are at least two things to consider: 1) How far off point was the misquoted fact?  2) What is the character of the one making the mistakes? The character issue can be parsed into an arrogant-belligerent vs. a humble-ownership stance. Best to be wary of the former character.  The latter can be a safer character.

Facts can be a tricky issue.  Is a delusionary attribution actually a fact?  If we’re talking subjective reality, it certainly is a fact.  If we’re implementing a delusion into an objective reality, we’re talking a bit of craziness if not madness.

So what? Well, what captures attention can enslave it.  The point of attention is—wait for it—to pay attention. Technology has made “entertaining” attention-captures ubiquitous. The template for what garners “likes” and subscribers is relatively short attention-captures and then to move on the whatever is next. Continuity is passé.  A strobe-light attention needs a strobe-light reality.

I realize the title of this post is like a promise of short-attention captures—no need for thinking too hard. I love comedian Nate Bargatze’s take on reading—so many words and they just keep coming.  It makes me want to go right into words about attention. Grab some snacks—some ‘splaining ahead.

Folks who’ve practiced waiting and examining prior to landing on this-or-that have developed a different attention than folks who are hooked on instant gratification and likes. The former will also check in with their learning to see if things have changed.  The latter will just check in to the next shiny capture.

Are these types different species?  Nope (well, not so far)!  How did we get to such a gap might be a question.  That one group is studied and the other group isn’t, is too quick an answer.  If the first group is so studied, how are they not seeing their contribution to the divide?  If the second group is not so studied, how can they be expected to compare?

As a mediocre athlete (I might be overestimating my ability), I am not able to compete with those who have better abilities, whether genetic, practiced, or both.  Okay, so then what?  Drool, slump, and bemoan?

In other so-many words, if we are doing the best we can, we’re doing the best we can. However, it is not our best if we misunderstand what simple or easy is. We are required to see beyond immediate gratification ( a positive outcome) or we risk being life-illiterate.  It clearly takes energy to gain momentum, so the ratio of calories-expended to calories-gained is not nested solely in short-term outcomes.

So enters patience (I’m still an amateur—though not so much when it’s clear freaking-out would be a disaster).  Comprehensive reading is one example of practicing patience. Reading my stuff (so many words…) can be a challenge, even if there’s a point in the weeds of words (obviously I’m still practicing these use-of-words bit).

Being still can seem unsuitable for those driven to move to the next thing.  Attention-captures might also be a real “drug” epidemic. Do not get me wrong, I like the quick- and accurate-witted, however, if one wants to go fast, one needs to start slow.  Toddlers toddle before learning to run. There’s a good reason for that. Life requires bearings for positive development to work. If our bearing is off even a smidgen, we’ll land elsewhere. And that means a whole lot of corrections are necessary to get back on track. In other so-many words, it ain’t always simple to just do easy.

Sailors on the Sentience Sea

The eye of the storm where sit the wise even when the busy winds subside to gain again their spiral-circle clock or counterclockwise.

So to you and me upon our watercraft, smooth sail and weather fair—but be-aware the Sargasso Sea forlorn or those raging waters around Cape Horn.