Blog #175--Interesting Tidbits Not Included in Book, Part 11

This article continues a series of items that were not included in my book “It’s a Secret, So Pass It On: a Toolbox For Life.” They expand upon concepts discussed in the book or introduce topics cut to save space.

Tidbit #1: There are differences of opinion regarding what constitutes an athlete. For the most part, people take sides depending on their personal definition of an athlete. And many are especially eager to include top performers in their favorite sports within their lists of athletes while showing bias against those who participate in sports they disdain.

Most agree that those who win a medal in most Olympic and other international events are great athletes. Certainly, those who run, swim, or ski fastest are considered athletes, as are those who can jump highest or farthest plus those who throw, kick or hit the farthest or hardest. Sports requiring great strength, stamina, flexibility and/or a high level of difficulty are included. Team sports at the professional level are generally populated by great athletes.

But there are competitive sports snubbed by some because they may not appear to require the same level of bodily excellence displayed by other sports. For instance, archery and some shooting events may not require any running or jumping, but they do require tremendous strength, stamina and a state of relaxation and focus unique only to a few. Race car drivers sit on the job, but strength, endurance, courage and tremendous focus are required to drive fast and safely while surrounded by competitors. Horse race jockeys must be strong and agile despite their minimal size, and they must be able to handle high-performance, high-strung animals. Some are killed during races, so great courage and anticipation is also necessary.

Golfers at the amateur level can enjoy the sport without being athletes, but the top golfers in the world must be great athletes because of their ability to rotate their bodies fast enough and balanced enough to have extremely high club head speeds and hit the sweet spot of their clubs repeatedly. And they must have a feel for the game to permit delicate shots only a rare few can master. Michael Jordan, perhaps the greatest basketball player to ever play the game, loves golf and plays it regularly, but he has never reached the level where he could compete on a professional tour.

In my mind, anyone who can compete successfully in a sport, any sport, at a national or international level is an athlete compared with his or her peers. Even those who win a local bowling league can be considered athletes compared with their competitors. After all, everything is relative.

Tidbit #2: Water is an amazing substance. I recently wrote a two-part article on water’s properties called “Water Is Life.” Adding to that, have you ever wondered where the water you drink or otherwise use in your daily life has been in its history? It exists in liquid, solid and gaseous states and changes back and forth depending on conditions. These changes allow it a great deal of mobility.

For instance, the water we drink goes to helping our body function before being excreted as urine, vomit, tears, saliva, diarrhea, phlegm, blood, sweat and the like. If it is flushed down a toilet or sent down a drain pipe, it perhaps returns to a water treatment plant for recycling. Or it may evaporate and become fog, invisible humidity or clouds. If caught up in a storm, it may be transported great distances before it condenses and falls somewhere as rain, ice, snow or any of their variations.

If it reaches an ocean or a river that flows to the sea, it may follow ocean currents all over the world. It may become part of fish and aquatic mammal bodies. It may eventually make it to a different continent where it again can become nourishment for plants, animals, insects, or other life forms.

It may then be excreted again to repeat the above process or be eaten by a larger predator to serve its needs before being excreted. Again, it goes through many cycles of evaporation and condensation, ingestion and excretion. It may eventually make it back to us, where we benefit from it a second time. Knowing this unique life cycle might help us learn to respect it more and take better care of it while it is in our presence. Water has a fascinating and highly productive life cycle.

Tidbit #3: The movie “The Adjustment Bureau” has an interesting and provocative premise. It shows a previously unknown group of people who work anonymously to make sure all humans follow their destiny. To me, that is a contradiction in terms because, if we have destinies, then we need no one to make sure we don’t fall off our intended path. These people refer to their leader as The Chairman (God, perhaps?).

Actor Matt Damon plays a popular politician named David Norris who’s destined to help the United States once he wins a presidential election. A member of the Adjustment Bureau oversleeps and fails to prevent him from meeting the love of his life, an accomplished dancer. If he stays with her, he won’t become president and she won’t become a famous dancer and choreographer. But love wins out in the end, and they are finally permitted to change their destiny and stay together. It had the obligatory happy ending.

While I am a proponent of the destiny theory and disagree with the movie’s conclusion, I like the movie. A friend asked me why the seeming contradiction. In my mind, one line in the movie makes all the rest worthwhile. A man named Thompson from the Adjustment Bureau states, “You don’t have free will David. You have the appearance of free will.” I believe that is an extremely important concept, and I’m grateful the movie was popular enough to expose a large number of people to it.

Of course, Thompson says the Bureau tried to give people free will, but the dark ages and later two world wars, fascism, the great depression and the Holocaust happened, and we came to the brink of a nuclear war with the Cuban Missile Crisis. So the Adjustment Bureau was needed to put humans back on track. Most people prefer to believe they have some control over their lives, so Thompson said we can choose our own toothpaste but not the most important decisions. Of course, no one has demonstrated how choice and no choice mechanisms operate simultaneously.

We must find truth wherever it exists in a world rife with distortions and falsehoods. If we put the right snippets of information together, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, a truth can emerge. Of course, we have to have an overall plan to ensure a precise picture. That is destiny.

Tidbit #4: On the same topic, talented cartoonist Bob Thaves prepared a Frank and Ernest cartoon dated 4/17/16 and entitled “The first philosophical discussion.” Surrounded by a wide variety of predatory, large and/or dangerous animals, one primitive human says to the other: “You think we control our own destiny? Are you crazy?”

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