Uncommon Common Sense

Good morning and welcome to Tuesday! OK, I can already tell it's going to be interesting...my fingers are moving faster than my computer can accurately keep up. Oh well, no matter. :) So a few days ago, I was mulling the concept of "giving up something for Lent". One of my friends/students (Joey A) commented, and brought up the whole "New Year's" thing. For those of you that know me well, you know I think New Year's Resolutions are relatively worthless. There are nothing more than wishful thinking, in my opinion. You might as well "resolve" to win the lottery, then do what a lot of folks do...buy the occasional ticket now and then, whenever they think the jackpot is high enough to be "worth it". Side note -- seriously? $25 million isn't "worth" taking a chance on, but $300 million is? Reminds me of an old W. C. Fields joke. He asks a lady if she would sleep with him for a million dollars. She said sure. He

"I instantly fell in love with her/him." "I don't know what happened, we just have fallen out of love with each other." Baloney. Both of these statements. Baloney Slices. You know...BS. "Love". It's getting close to Valentine's Day, and folks are all about this emotion. The trouble is, folks get "emotion" confused with "feeling". And quite simply, neither of them has anything to do with the concept of "love". Love is a choice. It's a bit like Hate, in that regard. Wow, slow down, Lar. You're starting to lose me. OK, let's start with the opposite of love...hate.  Where does hate come from? Is it an "emotion"?  Is it a "feeling"?  I submit to you that "hate" is a byproduct of Anger. And in my opinion, anger is NOT a primary emotion. It is a secondary one. Anger is the way we express OTHER emotions. Fear, sadness, feelings of inadequacy. Anger is never the primary e