Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason.

Just when you think the world is on its way to hell in a handbasket, one individual redeems (and inspires) us all a little.

East Timor’s President Jose Ramos-Horta has pardoned the men who attacked him a year ago.  Dr. Ramos-Horta suffered from three serious bullet wounds and was put into intensive care in Australia last February after a group of rebels assaulted his home.  He has fully recovered, and now he is pardoning his attackers.  He says they are victims of the unrest and chaos in the country.  According to the Timor News Line, Dr. Ramos-Horta has issued a call to the rebels, asking them to work with him for the peace of their country.

I don’t know enough about East Timor’s recent history, about Dr. Ramos-Horta, even about the rebels themselves to make a judgment on the president’s actions.  But I believe that he feels his decision will encourage his people and engender a spirit of understanding.  He’s taking a lot of flak for his actions – especially from inside his own government – but I applaud him.  No one knows what will come of the rebels being pardoned – Dr. Ramos-Horta is taking a chance.

Seth Godin, marketing guru, is all for taking chances.  And his risk principles came to mind when I read about Dr. Ramos-Horta.  Godin points out that, statistically, an initial risk is easy and has sure (if somewhat small) rewards.  However, going that second step and doubling risk also doubles reward.  Encouraging clients who have taken a risk on your company or product will inspire them to feel a little gutsier.  And don’t we all love to talk about how gutsy we are?  By being risky yourself, you have generated talk about your company or products.  And talk, Godin says, is one of the best ways to become remarkable.  Check out Godin’s blog on this principle: Risk/Reward Confusion.

Here’s to Dr. Ramos-Horta – may his risk bring double rewards for East Timor!

Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean become dirty, the ocean is not dirty.

This week Berkley scientists were surprised to find that microorganisms in the Gulf of Mexico have been “eating” the oil from this summer’s spill.  WikiNews Gulf of Mexico 

Why the surprise, guys?

I’m no scientist, but I’d expect that oil (a naturally-produced compound under the earth’s crust) has broken through before.  I’d also expect these eruptions to have occurred more frequently in the ocean (since oceans cover 70% of earth’s surface, stats found here: EOEarth).  We’ve only been able to explore the ocean’s complexities (especially the microscopic complexities) within the last three hundred years thanks to the advent of Leeowenhoek’s microscope.  So I’d expect there to be some kind of organism that feeds off these occasional under-sea oil eruptions.  Nature cares for her own.

This doesn’t mean I think clean-up efforts in the Gulf should stop.  I’m shocked at how long it took us to cap our mess.  Even though the ocean has proven it can restore balance on its own, we are still responsible for our actions in the water.  Having introduced machinery that exaggerated the natural state and frequency of oil plumes (in order to harvest it for our personal comfort), we are accountable for the excesses that have been leaked into the unassuming ocean environment.

Instead of surprise, it would make more sense for us to feel ashamed: tiny microorganisms in the ocean were quicker to clean up their home than we were to stop the problem we created.

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Well, I’m a word girl.  Give me a picture, and I’ll rock your world.  The depth of story and detail and even plot that I can invent in the space of a few minutes’ observation is unbelievable.  I’ve been training myself to do this since I was a little girl.  My best friend and I told each other stories constantly.  Everywhere we went, every thing we saw, we concocted some amazingly detailed explanation for it.  We named characters (human and otherwise); we formulated plot twists; we described scenery and atmosphere and clothing and weather; we verbalized emotions.

My favorite story of hers came out one night outside the Memorial Auditorium.  She spotted a crushed VHS tape in the parking lot.  Ribbons of tape snagged along the paving cracks, their tails leaping at every breeze.  And she invented the most elaborate explanation for that tape’s existence and present state – I listened, breathless, waiting for the next twist.

Flash forward ten years.  I now work at a marketing agency where my job (if you cast a certain light on it) is to make stuff up.  And I work side by side with a designer, telling them my stories, weaving into words the pictures in my head, and hoping they can fit all that detail into one image.  Essentially, we build a single picture from a thousand words.

Isn’t life ironic?

Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for truth.

“Repunctuate your life.”

What do you think this ad is for? Yup. Birth control.

I’m sorry – what?

Birth control. It’s a play on “period” – which I think is enormously clever, but also very sad. What a terrifying state to live in when you have detailed control over even the most natural of cycles! I find it nearly as mind-blowing as controlling the phases of the moon (which are predictable and have unseen effects on all of earth).

I can only imagine what kind of effects controlling your period (so that you only have four a year!) has on your body, which is designed to have one a month. I’m not good with math, but that’s less than half of the natural number of periods a woman is supposed to have per year. Can you imagine what your body must feel like, being forced to skip something that your DNA is driving it to do? My squirrelly mind immediately imagines your body taking revenge by storing it all up so when you have one of four periods a year, it lasts for three weeks and puts you completely out of commission. “Take that!” she says to you.

And of course there’s Kotex’s “Have a happy period” slogan. I vote they fire every one of the men on the design team and start over again – all women this time. Insensitive. Especially when they’ve never personally had the urge to overdose on chocolate. *Grimace*

The last commercial I saw was for pads with ultra-flex wings or some such. The ad showed a Gumby-like mechanical bull (saddle only, with embroidered flowers of course). A pad unfolds (like a flower, but grotesque) across the saddle and sticks itself down. The saddle rolls around like a sweet little puppy while a concerned voice tells you this pad will cover you even on your heaviest days. Yes, but have they fixed the “feels like I’m wearing a diaper” feature? Because I stopped wearing diapers when I was two, and I refuse to regress that far.

The greater part of the world's troubles are due to questions of grammar.

“The President is obviously a Christian – he prays every day.”

This, boys and girls, is a sparkling example of an inductive fallacy. By his words, Mr. Burton – spokesperson for the White House – assumes that only Christians pray. Therefore, if someone prays, he is a Christian. Which would make Buddhists, Muslims, Satanists, and shamans (among others) Christians – they all pray, don’t they?

I find it hard to believe that a news reporting agency, born of the intent to provide accurate and informed information to the general public, could contradict itself in such a high-profile article.


This gem was recently featured on Yahoo’s front page. The piece begins, “The White House insisted on Thursday that President Barack Obama is a Christian who prays daily.” Which is logical. But then the paper prints Mr. Burton’s ridiculous quote. It would seem that in the rush to have up-to-the-moment news, a well-respected agency missed (or worse, overlooked) this blatant fallacy.

With the explosion of the internet, the standards for printed media have fallen through the proverbial cracks. Please understand, I am one hundred percent behind freedom of speech – I’m not criticizing anyone who posts to the internet (I’m one of them – us – we?). But the companies that lead the nation’s reporting and reading patterns (run by men and women who have degrees from Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Southern California, to begin) should be voluntarily striving for the highest of standards. And not just spelling and grammar – let’s put our brains (and degrees?) to good work and cover all aspects of writing a solid article.

I’m sure Mr. Burton meant to say that the President is a Christian (end thought). He prays every day (end thought).