With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good.
Too much sanity may be madness and the maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be.
I enjoy paying taxes. With them I buy civilization.
2002-10-24 - 3:16 p.m.
It’s Thursday so I’m writing this from school. I finally got word looking like I want; now I just have to reprogram my macros.
I gave back the test to the evening calculus class yesterday. I confronted the woman that I know cheated. She looked so sad that I wimped out and didn’t just give her a 0. I gave her a 0 but like everyone else I gave her the chance to do over the test and to get back half the credit for every question she gets totally right. So now she can shoot for a 50. She’ll probably still fail the class but perhaps this will inspire her to work hard and she’ll pass.
I read Les Miserable in the eighth grade and it left a deep impression on me. When Jean Valjean was caught stealing the bishop’s silver plates and the gendarme brought him to the bishop, the bishop said, “I’m glad you brought him here, I gave him the plates but he forgot to take the silver candlesticks.”
Another one of my students just annoyed me. He got around a 40 on the test and was complaining. First he asked me about the question where I asked them to use the definition of the derivative to find differentiate a simple function. This is something that I guaranteed that I would put on the test. They knew the question was coming. The question was almost identical to ones I did in class and they had to do on the homework. He just wrote the answer using the formula instead of using the definition of the derivative. In other words he didn’t answer the question. He thought it was very unfair of me that I didn’t give him full credit for that. He thought I graded too hard. He said all his mistakes were stupid mistakes. I couldn’t resist saying that the key word there was “stupid.” He thought he should have gotten a 100. I was actually being generous. He really didn’t understand what the questions even meant.
I’m pretty sure that this is the same student who was talking on the cell phone in class. He better learn to take some responsibility for his actions.
In general I was pretty nice to the class and gave them a pep talk. Some of the students who did very poorly didn’t come back after the break. I told everyone else to tell them to come back next time; that it wasn’t hopeless. I hope the listen.
I actually got quite a bit accomplished in the lecture. I covered three sections like I’m supposed to. I don’t usually do that. The big question though is if they understood it.
After class I relaxed by calling friends. Betsy wasn’t home but I got to talk to Carey and Stacey.
I really should talk about how I feel about Carey moving to Chicago. There is a lot of texture to this; I feel so many things simultaneously. Part of me is feeling very anxious. I met Carey when I really needed someone like her. I didn’t have anyone that I could really talk to about anything whenever I need to. I had friends but there was a large void that needed filling. I know I’m not losing her. She’ll still be a phone call away. I won’t get to see her nearly as often though and we probably won’t talk on the phone as much. When it gets down to it I’m afraid of being lonely.
On the other hand I think she has to move there and I’m happy that she is. She shouldn’t be hundreds of miles away from Neal. I know when she moves out there and gets a job she’ll be so much happier.
I’m not worried about some of the things that are worrying her. She will find a job, she will find friends, and she’ll find local bands to follow. I’m excited about going to visit her, I’ve never been to Chicago. I’ll get to go to Wrigley field this summer and watch the Cubs play baseball in the glorious sunshine.
I’m seeing Carey twice more before she leaves and she’s coming back here right after she gets there. I’m going to appreciate every second of it.
The International Jewish Banking Conspiracy - October 07, 2008
On the Road to Westchester County - October 06, 2008
Inside the Madison Square Studio - October 05, 2008
I'm a Bosniac and I'm debating like I've never debated before - October 03, 2008
Islands in the Stream of Consciousness - October 02, 2008
Email me: GordonLew at gmail
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Horvendile 2002-10-24
