| 11-11-01 11-11-01 is a pretty trippy date. 11-11-11 will be even weirder. If we live that long, that is. We being you and I. Or even you, I and the rest of the human race. I'm back from the wedding in St. Louis. Here's something interesting - airport restaurants are no longer allowed to include knives in the silverware, only spoons and forks. There wasn't even a butter knife instead we got a small butter spoon. The waiter told us that when they serve steak, the chef has to cut it up in little pieces before it's brought out. It was a big Catholic wedding - around 280 people in a cavernous church. Vaulted ceilings, massive yellow stone walls, stained glass, gothic statuary, the works; the ceremony lasted over an hour. You can sense that the church tries very hard to psychologically create "importance" both through the physical space and through the endurance challenge of the ceremony. A wedding is a massive, irreversible, important commitment; divorce, ladies and gentlemen, is unthinkable. This approach doesn't really work; the struggles of Capitalism and individual compatibility are a lot more potent than religious doctrine in American life. In fact, sadly, the bride's parents are going through a divorce, and I understand it's been extremely painful for everyone close to the family. At the reception, we were off at a corner table perfectly positioned between the bar and the balcony/smoking area. It was the "young cousin" table, and I met a couple of interesting people - Steven who is an airline attendant on American and lives in Chicago. He has often flown the Boston to LA flight that was hijacked, and he knew one of the flight attendants had their throat slit. DAMN. The other interesting person was named Jessica, and she is a fashion major at Kent University. Earlier Saturday I was pondering my own vegetarianism. I've been a vegetarian for almost 4 years now, and when non-vegetarians find out I'm a veg they sometimes ask me why. I usually say that I have three reason - moral, environmental and health reasons, and if they are still curious, I'll go into further detail. But I was pondering another philosophical avenue earlier this very day and got to throw it into action like a Samurai Vegetarian. (Hmmmh, I can smell novel.) Serendipitously, Jessica asked me why I was a vegetarian, and I asked her in response why she was not a vegetarian. Her response was that she liked meat. So then I said do you see "liking" as sufficient moral justification for any act? Obviously, it's not…if someone liked beating people up, that doesn't make it moral. So then a key point I went on to make was - if an alien species came down to earth and decided they liked the taste of human flesh, would it be okay for them to eat us. She said, "Yes, I guess so," so she had me there. But I suspect that if aliens really did come down here, and said, Jessica, we're going to munch your leg off and then chomp your arm…well, I suspect she'd change her mind pretty quick. I could be wrong. Finally, I just said that I like to alleviate suffering. She appreciated that answer. |
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