Groups

It occurs to me that groups must be pretty important to us. English really only has one word that means love but group has been split atomically. Is it because we want to belong to a group? Does it help us to give meaning to our lives? Or is it that we name these "groups" to ensure our own uniqueness?

Here are a few synonyms of group that I was thinking of while I was collecting seashells by the sea shore: team, community, club, committee, gaggle, pack, squad, herd, pride, murder, congregation, troop, colony, battalion, litter, brood, gang, flock, posse, generation, mob, school, and bunch. That's 23 different ways to say group. As I continue to type,  I continue to think of more. I have no idea why it is so important to distinguish that a group of dogs is a "pack" but a group of geese is a "gaggle" or a "flock." Yet, it's nearly impossible for me to name the different feelings of love I feel without resorting to Greek words, metaphors or examples.

Experimenter - The Movie

"You could say we are puppets. But I believe that we are puppets with perception, with awareness. Sometimes we can see the strings. And perhaps our awareness is the first step in our liberation."— Stanley Milgram

It's an entertaining and interesting movie starring Peter Sarsgaard and Winona Ryder about the "obedience" research of Dr. Stanley Milgrim in the 1960s. I personally, didn't remember Milgrim or the controversy surrounding his research. I was familiar with the results of several of his research projects. The film itself is a kind of project: the main character breaks the fourth wall, some scenes are portrayed with the backgrounds projected behind the actors, and much of the emotion of the film seems to be left up to my interpretation. There are important human behavioral questions brought up. Two that particularly interest me are: why will we hurt others just because we are told to; and are we justified to hurt others in order to learn. There are at least two sightings of actual "elephants in the room." I am not sure if the elephants represent that Milgram was justifying what the subjects endured in the name of his own research or that our society still doesn't act any different than the Germans did carrying out Hitler's atrocities.

Everyone would like to believe that "I would not have shocked the stranger." How we can learn as individuals or as a whole how to get there? How can we get to a point where we no longer do what we're told just because we we're told?  How can we be sure that we will act within our conscience?

Raking

Most of my days are spent with my daily work. There are very few activities like raking. I work hard. I give my best effort until I have blisters on my hands and my hip aches with arthritis. Then I finish up as best I can gathering the last leaves and putting the rakes and such away. When I look at my work the ground is still littered with acorns and leaves (I live in an oak hammock).