Random

This ethics class is going to be the end of me, I can just tell.

There are times I wish I didn't have such a raging desire to gather and analyze information. I feel like a zombie, staggering around wanting to metaphysically consume the contents of other people's brains. It's like being on a lifelong scavenger hunt for pieces of a puzzle. I scramble through the jungle, find a piece and then excitedly find the place it fits in the overall picture. I know the puzzle will never be complete, and there will be parts of it I never get to, but I just like being part of the process of discovery and synthesis.

It's been very gratifying to have many of my points of view reinforced by what I'm learning. It's comforting to know that a lot of the raw concepts I've had about a lot of things for years are actually backed up--albeit in a more-refined form--by People Who Matter. I also welcome corrections, too. Anything that can make those puzzle pieces fit better is fine by me.

But it does get overwhelming sometimes. I get frustrated when I take a wrong turn or get distracted. I get even more frustrated when I get excited about fitting a piece in and the rest of the world collectively shrugs, or has no idea what I'm going off about. I suppose I'm lucky that I'm as articulate as I am (though that's an ongoing refining process, too.) If I couldn't express what I see and find, I'd be even more frustrated.

I gotta admit, though, I really feel sorry for Stephen Hawking. It's got to be maddening to have a mind like that and to know that only a handful of people on the planet have any idea whatsoever what you're talking about. Every time I get a blank stare or someone whose basis of knowledge is decidedly different than mine, I just remember that it could always be worse.

Anyway. Time to go to bed and read a textbook for a class I'm not even taking just because it looked interesting...