Author: Matthew Groff

  • The Unexamined Life Sucks…

    Which I think is a more accurate translation from ancient Greek.

    I watched a documentary on Freud last night, and it didn’t help me sleep. What struck me in this program was that it claimed that in moments when Freud was stuck and frustrated by his own theories, he would apply them to his own life to see if they stood up to objective scrutiny. Depending on how you feel about Freud, you may feel that he succeeded or failed.

    It reminded me of Socrates’ quote, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” I know that he said it, or supposedly did, at his trial, choosing death rather than exile. Now, my interpretation is that the ancient world was about examining the external, and the modern world is about examining the internal.

    I remember wanting to write books from a very early age. I remember wanting to have as many books around me as possible. I can even remember memorizing the books my parents read to me, so I could act like I was “reading” them. (My daughter has started to exhibit the same behavior now.) I remember “scribbling” with wavy lines on paper, like I was handwriting a story. When I did learn how to write, this might have been when I was 9 or 10, I asked for and received a child’s typewriter for Christmas. I also remember wanting to tell stories; make them up, read them, perform them, etc.…

    But where did this come from?

    I understand the nature/nurture dynamic, but it can’t be all nature, can it? Being given books by my parents clearly had an impact, but is that it? Did books give me a feeling of power? Were books my “friend” when my older brothers left me alone to do older brother things? Was it playing by myself in those situations where I was forced to use my imagination to create my own stories as I did not have the interaction with another child? Or is it just something that is in me that was inevitable?

    I’m not sure if there is a clear answer here, or even a need for an answer, as in, what does that answer really “give” me? I am who I am, and I don’t regret it.

    But…

    As I mentioned above, my daughter has exhibited one of these behaviors. Is that coming from me, genetically, or from the example I set?

  • On Thoughts of Breaking a Plate

    I broke a plate this afternoon. I was putting away the dishes, and I wasn’t paying attention. It slipped out of my hand and crashed onto the floor. The sound of the plate shattering was much louder than I expected. It was almost ear pricing as the sound was in such a high register. The plate broke into a few large pieces, but the majority was made up of tiny shards that went everywhere.

    First, I was angry, as the plate I had broken was one we had received for our wedding, and I don’t think they make them anymore. I started to move to clean it up, but then I stopped.

    I stopped to look at the mess I had made, though by accident; The strange pattern all of the pieces had made. As our kitchen is central in the layout of the apartment, shards had made it to the living room, master bedroom, and even the dining room. The spread was impressive.

    What if I left it? It was a silly question and couldn’t be answered with a, yes, leave it. A child’s bare feet would be home soon. Messes are made to be cleaned up. As are accidents.

    And so, I cleaned the floor. Picked up the large pieces, swept up the tiny ones. Vacuumed the tiles, and then mopped. I would say that it now looked like it never happened, but the clean floors will give away that something happened.

    I was reminded of a question that a history professor posed to us, his class; If there is no evidence of a historical event happening, did it really happen?

  • Diversity

    Why do I strive for diversity? And for that matter, why do most people my age and younger feel the same way?

    I have been thinking about these questions often, not only for the political environment that we are in now, but also when it come to my child growing up. I want her to be exposed to as many different people as possible. In New York, that was pretty easy, and I might add happily, diversity is California has been wonderful as well.

    I think that this desire for diversity in me comes from attending integrated public schools, from kindergarten to my senior year of high school. That was 13 years of being exposed to kids that were nothing like me, and at the same time, we all behaved like kids. I have a picture from the birthday party where I turned 10, and in that picture are six boys, each of a different ethnic background. And I know that I am not the only person who can say that from where I grew up.

    Sadly, I now realize, the first time that I started hanging out with only white people was when I went to college. University was so completely socially segregated that now it seems odd that no one ever brought it up.

    My point is that I believe that it is vitally important that kids be exposed, and learn with, as many different children as possible. What scares me now is that I see parents, through gentrification, creating segregated schools again.

  • Morality in Economics

    I read David Brooks today, and call me crazy, I think that this conservative guy is slowly becoming liberal. I will thank Trump for that, but more importantly, I welcome David to the party.

    I took the point of his piece, which was that America business needs to get its morality back in check. Think about employees, customers, and the communities they exist in, and not just the bottom line, shareholders, and stock value.

    Is this the first crack in the Conservative love of all things that came out of Milton Friedman’s mouth?

    I have held, and said many times, that Friedman’s approach and the way he viewed capitalism was destructive to all of us. I always felt that Friedman’s failure was rooted in the idea that an individual or corporation would “pay by the rules” in their quest for capital, and no one would cheat. The truth of the matter is that if there is money to be made, someone, inevitably will cheat, and someone gets hurt.

    Also, Friedman thought that governments should get out of the way and let companies do what they do. He thought all companies would want deregulation, but what he missed was that companies want regulation on everyone else, just not them. That’s why there is a weird revolving door with CEOs and executives getting named as heads of regulation organizations. (FCC, FDA, ect…)

    In a philosophical sense, I believe that all economics are based in emotions and not in logic. Economies are not math, it is not a science; it is completely man made, and as such, will behave illogically often to meet its desired ends. To put a morality on top of capitalism is a neat idea, and to do that, you need some agreed upon regulations.

    Welcome to the party, David.

  • Cohen to Testify for Congress; Trump Will Try to Divert

    According to The New York Times, Michael Cohen will now testify publicly for about his work for Trump on February 7th for the House Oversight and Reform Committee. This could be huge. This could be Watergate or Iran/Contra huge. This could impact Trump’s ability to do his job, or open up more investigations, or start an honest and serious debate about impeachment.

    Or…

    And this is my predication…

    The day before, day of, or day after, Trump is going to do something really crazy to try and divert attention from Cohen.

    He has done it before…

    Remember how he tweeted about Obama wiretapped him to make everyone forget about the start of the Russia investigation?

    Remember how he tweeted about NFL player’s protests to make everyone forget about the failure to repeal Obamacare?

    The stock market started to fall, and then he tweeted that the military was leaving Syria. Anyone remember that one?

    This is what Trump does, and it will happen again. What I would hope to see is that the media won’t take the bait. That whatever created controversy that Trump comes up with won’t get plastered all across the airwaves.

    I keep thinking that news editors and produces will see this pattern of sham, and then choose not to go down the rabbit hole of Trump nonsense.

    I keep thinking people are smarter than this…