Tag: fiction

Posted in Philosophy

Escape the Prison of Reflection: A Parable of Ego and Humility

Posted on by simplebender

An older man, with an air of superiority, left his opulent, gilded house and strolled into a bustling marketplace surrounded by his fawning, obedient minions. He proudly carried a polished, reflective, framed glass. His head held high, he admired his own reflection as he weaved through the crowd. The crowd could see him, but he could only see himself, and he was thoroughly pleased. He barely noticed those on either side of him as his minions pushed them aside out of his view. When he did catch a fleeting glimpse, he compared himself to them—the merchants, the homeless, the travelers, the artists, and the minorities—with his arrogance, ignorance, and bombast on full display, he declared, “I am far superior to them all, and they should be forbidden from saying otherwise.”

But as the day wore on, dust gathered on the glass. His reflection grew dim and distorted. He frowned, exclaimed how unfair and unacceptable the conditions were. He lifted his feeble arm and wiped it with his soiled sleeve. Raising it again, he loudly demanded that the crowd see him as he saw himself, even through the grime. Some ignored him, some laughed, and the braver, at great peril, mocked him. His anger rose, and his threats of retaliation grew robust and offensive.

At last, an old immigrant woman left the row of unpicked crops and approached him, offering nothing but silence in her weary eyes. With her weathered hands, she took the glass gently from his manicured fingers, turned it around, and asked, “What do you see now?” The mirrored glass, once a tool for self-admiration, now became a symbol of understanding and empathy as he viewed the world rather than himself.

The old man was initially taken aback but remained self-absorbed. In the mirror was no longer his own face, but the faces of the people around him—each one bearing burdens, scars, joys, and pride of their own which he had never truly seen or bothered to comprehend.

The old woman’s voice was a gentle, refreshing breeze: “The glass is not for self-worship but for understanding. Turn it outward and you’ll see the truth: you are not the center, only a small part. Your ego makes the glass a prison; humility makes it a window.” Her words carried a profound truth that seemed to resonate in the old man’s heart.

The old man, humbled by her wisdom, lowered his head. For the first time, the marketplace seemed vast and vibrant, filled not just with his own reflection but with the dreams of real people. He left the market, dusty and disheveled, and a question lingered for all who watched: Will he remember what the mirror revealed, or will he brush away the dust of human humility and return to the prison of his own reflection? As the old woman returned to the field, she turned and said: “We should all look into our own reflective glass and ask ourselves, how much of him are we?”

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NeverFearTheDream simplebender.com Stand For Truth

If you’re looking for daily thoughts and insights you will want to start the morning with:

For Every Problem...A Solution...
Lap Around the Sun: Daily Steps Forward

If you know someone who is facing any facet of Alzheimer’s they might gain some insight from:

Joy in Alzheimer’s: My Mom’s Brave Walk into Dementia’s Abyss

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Posted in Current Events

Faceless Justice:

Posted on by simplebender

When did masks shift from villains to “authorities”?

If you're doing good you shouldn't have to hide behind a mask....

When I was a kid, masks were for the bad guys. Bandits in Westerns, bank robbers with bandanas, the Klan hiding under white hoods, and the muggers in dark alleys. A mask meant you didn’t want to be recognized because you were doing something you shouldn’t be doing. Evil hid its face. Goodness walked in daylight.

But now? Somewhere along the way, the script flipped. Those we were told to trust—law enforcement, federal agents—have adopted the mask. Acting with impunity, ICE officers are staging “operations,” Homeland Security agents are sweeping into neighborhoods, even U.S. Marshals and Border Patrol units, all with faces hidden. They now resemble the masked members of Patriot Front or Blood Tribe. Once respected symbols of authority, they are now appearing faceless, anonymous, and interchangeable. Supporters argue that the masks protect officers from retaliation or online targeting, but to the rest of us, it appears to be a means to avoid scrutiny and shirk accountability.

The claim is they’re targeting “the worst of the worst.” That phrase is supposed to conjure violent criminals, cartel bosses, or human traffickers. Yet the data tells a different story: government data shows that the majority — often well over half, approaching 70%—of ICE detainees have no criminal record at all. They’re being seized at immigration hearings where they’ve come voluntarily, pursued through farm fields, even pulled from schools and churches. They are NOT gunmen. Not the “worst of the worst.” They are just the easy ones. The soft targets. The ones who won’t shoot back.

Which raises the uncomfortable questions: do the masks hide fear, or shame? Fear of retaliation if they went after actual hardened criminals? Shame at arresting the powerless in the most public and humiliating of ways? Or maybe the mask makes it easier to see human beings as quotas instead of neighbors. Is this about public safety—or about hitting administrative numbers?

It’s a bitter irony. The only true ‘good guys’ who still wear masks today are doctors and firefighters. Their anonymity is a sacrifice, not secrecy. They shield their faces not to hide, but to protect and survive, thereby shielding others. That’s the difference. One mask hides identity to avoid accountability; the other shields life in the service of it.

The lesson is as old as childhood morality tales: if you hide your face to do your work, maybe, just maybe, it’s the kind of work that shouldn’t be done in the first place.

NeverFearTheDream simplebender.com @simplebender.bsky.social Stand For Truth

If you’re looking for daily thoughts and insights you will want to start the morning with:

For Every Problem...A Solution...
Lap Around the Sun: Daily Steps Forward

If you know someone who is facing any facet of Alzheimer’s they might gain some insight from:

Joy in Alzheimer’s: My Mom’s Brave Walk into Dementia’s Abyss

Please consider following simplebender, you’re reading makes my writing more fun..…

Comments and thoughts are always welcome and feel free to re-post …..

Posted in Philosophy

The Cosmic Treadmill: Time, Energy, and the Great Solar Lap

Posted on by simplebender

Imagine the Earth as a cosmic runner on a celestial treadmill, circling the Sun in its annual marathon. This cosmic racetrack spans about 940 million kilometers, and whether you are a newborn or a centenarian, the finish line arrives in precisely 365.25 days. Time, in its relentless march, does not care about the state of the runner – it is an impartial timekeeper in our universal stadium. Unless we drop out of the race, we all finish at precisely the same time every year.

Here’s where things get interesting: while the track remains constant, we, the runners, the individuals in the human race, change dramatically over time. The real mind-bender is that while we struggle to keep up with basic life, time keeps marching at the same relentless pace. The Earth does not slow down its cosmic dance just because your back hurts or your busted knees do not work either. Deadlines still loom, birthdays still sneak up on you, and somehow, it is always tax season again.

It is almost like the universe is playing some sick resource management game. “Here’s your annual allotment of time,” it says, “but we’re going to keep decreasing your energy levels. Good luck with that.” And we are left scrambling, trying to cram more into less, wondering how we ever had time for hobbies or, you know, a social life.

Imagine you are a shiny new car, fresh off the assembly line. Your engine purrs, your gears shift smoothly, and your fuel efficiency is at its peak. You zoom around the solar racetrack, accomplishing multiple tasks with minimal effort. This is you in your prime, a well-oiled machine capable of incredible feats within that 365-day lap.

Now, a few decades later. You are still making the same lap, but something is changed. Your once-pristine engine is now coughing and sputtering. Your gears grind a bit, and your fuel efficiency has taken a nosedive. This is the essence of aging – increasing entropy in our biological systems.

In terms of physics, we are dealing with the concept of mechanical efficiency. Our body’s ability to convert chemical energy (food) into mechanical work (actions) decreases as we age. It is like trying to power a Tesla with a steam engine – you will still move, but it won’t be pretty, and it certainly won’t be efficient.

Let’s quantify this with some napkin physics. Suppose you were young and could do 100 tasks per solar lap, requiring 1,000 units of energy. Your efficiency rating would be a respectable 0.1 tasks per energy unit. You can get several workouts in a day, along with your work, and raise your rambunctious young family.

Fast-forward 60 years. You’re lucky to manage 50 tasks with the same energy input. Your efficiency has halved to 0.05 tasks per energy unit. Now you are happy with one workout, a little reading time, and a little time of playing with the grandkids before your early bedtime.

This deterioration is akin to mechanical wear and tear. Just as a car’s engine loses compression over time, our cellular machinery accumulates damage. Mitochondria, our body’s power plants, become less efficient at producing ATP, the energy currency of cells. It is like trying to run a modern smartphone on a battery from the 1990s – technically possible, but woefully inadequate.

The cruel irony is that as our energy efficiency plummets, our energy demands often increase. Maintaining basic biological functions – the equivalent of a car’s idle speed – requires more fuel as we age. It is as if our personal gravitational field intensifies, making every movement an uphill battle against an invisible force.

Yet, the Earth keeps spinning, completing its solar lap with unwavering precision. The cosmic treadmill does not slow down or offer a gentler incline for its aging runners. This disconnect between our internal time – measured in declining energy and capability – and the unyielding external time creates the illusion of time speeding up as we age.

In essence, we are dealing with a fundamental mismatch between biological and astronomical timescales. Our personal energy graphs slope downward while the Earth’s orbital period stays stubbornly constant. It is a cosmic joke played on a universal scale – a reminder that while we may be star stuff, we are also subject to the unforgiving laws of thermodynamics.

As we continue our laps around the sun, remember: the race does not get longer, but the runner certainly gets slower. It is up to us to make each lap count, efficiency be damned. The Earth’s going to keep on spinning, and time is going to keep on flying, which we cannot change. We can change how we use the energy we have left. Maybe it is time to say “screw it” to the things that don’t matter and double down on what does. After all, even if you double down you are only going to achieve a tenth of what you want to….#NeverFearTheDream