Add it up

Finding a Penny, 2018

Most people won’t stoop over and pick up a penny. I’ve even heard folks say, that it isn’t worth anything. It is a waste of time.

A good old penny.

Clearly, they haven’t done the math. Most people, around here, don’t make $36 per hour. Some do. But not most. Well. There are 3,600 seconds in an hour. That’s a penny every second. That’s about the time it takes to pick up a penny — bend not included — depending on the bend.

The math. A lot of people don’t do it. They don’t think it through. Or, their judgment is so very clouded, that they do not see the facts before them.

I don’t like to give examples, but I have to throw a few out. Like Flat-Earthers. They simply don’t do the math, or the science. They cannot see the three-dimensional noses on their plain faces. That is how bad it is. I propose a little fun for them. A new reality TV show. Like, The Amazing Race, or something. With a HUGE Jackpot. Teams of Flat-Earthers compete against one another to get to the finish line, located at the very edge of the earth. Any edge. We won’t even push them off when they get there. The ratings would be through the roof, as we watched them, scurry about, like Rats in a maze. Bait them with some cheese and watch them go.

Another one, a more mainstream example, is Golf. Now there is a sport. Don’t get me wrong. I like it. I don’t play, but I will watch it if there is a game putting away on a TV screen. It is highly skillful, how they can hit the little ball with such amazing precision. Yet. Yet, yet, yet. The OBJECT of golf is to play the least amount of golf.

Exactly.

There certainly are a blue-million facts in the world. Cold hard facts. Like in News Reporting. It gets my goat when someone Cries Wolf with the “Fake News” Chatter — when it is not fake at all. Of course, I understand that there are scads of dubious publications out there, who spend their entire time generating fake news. But there exists an entire field of honest, respectable, and reliable sources too. They are brave, and courageous, and ruthless, when it comes to providing the world an ethical evaluation of events. They have given their lives.

I’ll tell you how to tell the difference. When there is reporting from war-torn Syria, or bombing in Iran, Iraq, you will see the folks from CNN, NBC, CBS, BBC, and on. Their reporters are there, in flack jackets and helmets, giving the news. You don’t see live reporting from “365 US News,” or “Morning Herald,” or “Daily News Feed,” or “Conservative Nation.” Nope. That is a great litmus test, if you care. Do the math.

It is true that we all perceive things differently. Take the sky, as an example. On a clear day. It is blue. But each of us may see that color of blue a little differently than the next. Some see royal. Others see periwinkle. Or cobalt, or cornflower. But blue. That is the fact. It isn’t orange.

I guess we should all remember, that there is a wealth of fact and fiction out there. It is our responsibility to intellect and reason, to determine and accept, that which is factual. And that, which is perception. And to be completely honest, when denoting, and differentiating, the two.

2 + 2 = 4. Fact. And, 3 + 1 also = 4. Also Fact.

It can all be very complex, but at the same moment, very simple. Paradoxical and enigmatic. Sometimes the math ain’t as easy as it looks. But the Universe is a great teacher, if only we ask.

And now? A penny for your thoughts. Or $36 per hour. Depending on how you go.

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“The world, we are told, was made especially for man — a presumption not supported by all the facts.”
― John Muir, A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf

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“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
― John Adams, The Portable John Adams

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“Sometimes, some lies that spoken with high confidence
could be more receptive than facts that spoken with doubt.”
― Toba Beta, Master of Stupidity

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