I am holding you in contempt of... everything?

Well, I missed the last two weeks, mostly because work has been keeping me very busy lately. As this blog matures I hope to stay more consistent. Anyway, here's this week's post!

I was listening to a podcast a few weeks ago by economist Russel Roberts of Stanford University, and his guest was talking about the negative effects of a culture of contempt. That struck home for me in my line of work just last shift as I found myself looking down my nose at a patient. I won't deny that in our line of work we tend to see people make some dumb decisions, especially when it comes to substance abuse. It doesn't feel very good when someone calls you just because they 'need a ride' to the hospital.

However, I still think it is very wrong to hold people in contempt. So what's the solution if we live in a culture of contempt? It seems there is a distinction between a lack of respect for someone and openly holding them in contempt. Of course, we don't have to respect someone's actions if they are taking illegal drugs, but we don't have to demonize that person. I had a Priest friend of mine tell me that whenever we see someone committing evil, we are only seeing one moment in a human life. I think the key there is that it is a human life. Of course we should condemn the action, but not the person.

On a different note, last week I went on a road trip down to Denver, and I have to say, it was a very poetic experience (mostly because we recited a lot of poetry). But it also helped that we were able to take our time on the trip and stop by a few Wyoming Towns. Kind of like a few weeks ago when I said we should use an Epicurean approach to pursuing good things, we were able to take our time and enjoy the scenery. First we checked out Jeffrey City, with a population of about ten, and apparently one of the most surveyed locations by satellites on the planet. (Used to be a Uranium mine and I guess you don't want the public to have access to weapons grade uranium. Huh). We also got to look at Laramie, 3rd biggest town in Wyoming and home of the University of Wyoming. I've taken the route from Lander to Denver dozens of times at this point, but never stopping along the way for more than a few minutes. It was just very nice taking it a little bit easier than I usually do.

Anyways, sorry I've been absent! See you guys next week, and stay happily virtuous!

So, this is an original from me: God was wondering how he was going to populate the earth he had just created with men, then he realized, he'd have to Add em. Then he created women to Eve-n things out.

I've wanted to watch Bob Ross lately, and then I realized, that he's basically an Artistic Chuck Norris: