yes, no, maybe so

i love being surrounded by analytical and introspective people, especially those who turn analysis into action. when you think about it, all of life can sort of be boiled down to thinking and doing, where thinking involves any kind of reflection or planning and where doing involves any act of creating or contributing. if every day you're actively thinking and actively doing, then there's a good chance that you and the world are both better off because of it. and if that's the case, you can safely say that you're LIVING. otherwise, i think, you're sort of just passively existing.

i'd been thinking about this topic, and then the other day my analytical friend michelle happened to forward me an article on teddy roosevelt (that sounds really random). at the bottom were some quotes of his, two of which i'm listing below. they were so timely.

"the only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything."

"far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."

so i guess my point is that we should all aim for a level of thinking and doing that goes beyond our comfort level. stretching a little bit always leads to good things. and being surrounded by fellow stretchers is always good inspiration.

and speaking of analytical people, SPO (minus fargo branch) met over tacos to discuss the propositions on the ballot. oh yes we did. we couldn't come to an agreement on most of them, settling on many 2-1 votes, but we all did agree on the high-speed rail from LA to SF (we don't really need it), on the parental notification law (some parents aren't worth telling) and of course, on prop 8. and we all considered the seriously tight california budget but the three of us each sort of had a soft spot for a different block of people covered by the various props: seriously ill children, crime victims, and... drug offenders.

happy day!