Food for the Soul

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A Grain of Salt

One cliché I hear very frequently is to take everything with a grain of salt. We all know that this means to take information given with a little skepticism. But where did this phrase come from? One theory is that it comes from the general of Ancient Rome, Pompey the Great, in about 106 BCE. After winning a war against Mithridates. He found an "antidote" to poison, supposedly a mixture of ingredients, the last being salt, which made it easier to swallow. It can be inferred from this fact that that by figuratively taking a " grain of salt" with everything, that is, having skepticism when being presented with information, we can avoid the harmful effects of poisonous ideas and be able to " swallow down" hard to believe information. So what do we need to do? Everyone always says to not believe everything you hear, but to that I disagree. To me, that is impractical, and is generally a cliché way to disprove people's otherwise valid arguments. Instead, ...

Dr. Johansson Case #301- Fearless Girl and Charging Bull Mediation

Dr. J: So, what seems to be the problem between you two? Charging Bull: This little brat over here just came on in and is causing trouble, with me and the people who support a free market. Fearless Girl: I don’t know what you’re talking about, I am just standing here minding my own business. Charging Bull: See! This is what I mean, that sass is going to get her into trouble. Fearless Girl: You mean like when someone mimed child rape on me? Did you tell him to do that you pervert! Dr. J: Ok, ok, now let’s be civil. Charging Bull, tell me what is bothering you. Charging Bull: When I was first but out on display, I helped people remember what the economy was meant to be- Fearless Girl: What- a sexist, man-filled environment? Dr. J: Now, Fearless Girl, you will get your chance but right now we are listening to what Charging Bull has to say. Fearless Girl: Hmph... Charging Bull: As I was saying, I used to help people know what we as a people wanted our economy to be like...

The Politically Correct Panther

The newly released movie, Black Panther, was a hit in the U.S. Raising an estimated 62.8 million dollars (Walsh and Xiao), this movie is what I've heard, "the best movie of all time"(unnamed aquaintance). While this may be true in the United States, there are reports that China thinks that the movie is a little too politically correct. Apparently, the criticism is coming largely due to the fact that the majority of the cast is black (Walsh and Xiao). Because of this, viewers in China have rated this movie a six or seven out of ten, while U.S. folks have rated it a whopping nine point seven out of ten. While they have some problems with the black characters, they are more concerned with what is not there- people of their own culture. Some reviewers accused African American audiences of getting "special treatment" (unnamed reviewer), and instead, wished that Marvel would make a movie with a majority of Asians instead. They say that, " Countless black peo...

The Wrong Direction

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines body lang uage as " the gestures, movements, and mannerisms by which a person or animal communicates with others". This type of communication can include facial expressions, posture, eye movement, gestures, and the use of touch. One type of body language I have become interested in falls under the category of posture. I read somewhere that in the course of talking to some one, if anytime the persons feet are pointed away from you, they want to stop talking to you. I decided to test this theory. There were two ways I did this. First, I got into a conversation with one of my friends and deliberately pointed my feet away from them. Unfortunately, they didn't stop the conversation like I thought they might, therefore showing that seeing this signal didn't trigger any sort of subconscious reflex. Secondly, I spent a lot of time looking for a specific type of conversation- one in which the person was pointing their feet away from ...

The Life of a Dog

So, I'm sitting here, thinking, what should I write about? Then, I notice my dog. He is just walking around, not doing anything special, you know, being a dog. I realized then that dogs have really good lives. The day of my dog is very simplistic. He wakes up, goes to the bathroom outside, eats, and sleeps/walks around the rest of the day. There is nothing he has to do. No stress, no work, no school. Also, they don't worry. They are fine with whatever happens and so there is no reason for them to be anxious about the future. This got me thinking. If we, as human beings, could let go of the stress, the worry, the anxiety, what could we be like? We would be able to do so much. We could lose the stress. We could be happy. Imagine that. If only we lived like the dog, we could relieve ourselves of so many problems. Now, I realize it is unrealistic to completely act like dogs. That would be weird. Just stress less, worry less, care less. Because in reality, our lives will get be...

Nature's Gift

While I was watching T.V. this weekend, I happened upon a "Fiji Water" commercial. It started off with angel-like singing, and then proceeded to tell me that Figi Water was "Nature's gift to us", to thank us for "leaving it completely untouched". Then it ended by saying that this water was "bottled at the source". After talking about irony this week, I recognized it almost instantly. When the commercial mentions that this water is nature's gift to us, for leaving it untouched, it is ironic because in order to get the water, workers and/or machinery have to get into Mount Fiji (Where this water is taken from), and "touch" it, or bottle the water, for our enjoyment. Nature shouldn't be giving us anything, because all we do is take from it. We cut down its trees, kill its wildlife, and take its water. The second part, their water being " bottled at the source, adds to the irony of the water being "completely unt...