Movie: Merry Christmas

We saw "Merry Christmas", a French movie with English subtitle this afternoon. This is about a true event in the early days of WWI; a temporary truce was declared unofficially by the waring soldiers of Germany, Great Britain and France on the Christmas Eve of 1914. My wife and I were both moved by the humanity of the story.

Intrinsic value of beauty, happiness...

I've been thinking about the conversation I had with my son several days ago. It was about beauty, happiness and whether there is an intrinsic value which bounds them to all mankind. This morning I was walking along the creek path with my wife to her office and thought about it. I'd like to believe that there is an intrinsic foundation to what we call beauty and happiness. Without this we are left with subjective valuation for life and its meaning. 

My son believes that beauty and happiness are subjective and are given value by individuals. If indeed beauty and happiness are values shared universally then why they are defined so differently by different people and different cultures/societies. Many of us can't seem to understand the "... happiness and joy", shown by the relatives of an Iraqi grandmother blowing herself up to kill their enemies. This sentiment of "happiness and joy" is so foreign/bizarre to us; it defies a reasonable evolutionary biology explanation. 

If one accepts the 'martyrdom' of suicide bomber brings true happiness and beauty to some but abhorrence to others then there may be no intrinsic value to happiness nor beauty. However, the joy I had walking our dog in the autumn early morning seeing the beauty of the creek, the trees, birds, squirrels and the peaceful wonder of nature would seem to be desirable to all. It is hard to believe that some people would not enjoy the simple pleasure of mindful walking, secure and contemplative upon the quiet beauty of this autumn morning walk.

Evolution of life

Yesterday evening, my wife and I went to listen to the 'Exploring the Evolution of Life' Symposium at the university. What a pleasure to meet and hear articulate, intelligent discussion! Dr. Douglas Futuyma from the Department of Ecology and Evolution, State University of New York gave a wonderful forty-minute presentation of Evolution as the "most important theory in Biology" and to a large extent a scientific theory about life and all its living things. Futuyma gave examples of experiments and studies - from geneticists to geologists and naturalists which support the incredibly intricate but correct predictions of Evolution. 

 Dr. Warren Allmon is with the Paleontological Research Institution and Cornell University gave a passinate discourse about the "spectrum of God", the scientific basis, conflicts, reconcilation for our understanding of its existence, scientific honesty and the politics of religion in America. Allmon does not rule out God's existence but added that there are several critical areas where the religion(s) cannot reconcile with our understanding of life and all consistent scientific, engineering successes which make our life work the way it is.

Ovarian cancer

I have been reading as much as I could about ovarian cancer. There are articles in magazines, books (e.g. "It's always something" by Gilda Radner), newspapers, and on the Net. Just Google "ovarian cancer personal story" and you can read hundreds of bewilderingly painful stories of the horror. The more I read about the ovarian cancer the more appalled, horrified I am of its devastation and the attempts at its treatment. Not only the disease attacks a very sensitive organ of a woman it is so unpredictable and deadly. There are not many consistent symptoms; its cause is almost unknown and there is no prevention. It is so terrifying a random blow and the surgeries and subsequent chemotherapy is almost equally chancy. 

What is the purpose of living a good, clean life and befallen by a random disease with a guarantee of barbaric poisonous attempt to cure? A healthy woman with vague symptoms could one day be an attractive person and on the next day an ovarian cancer patient with assured horrid, tortured treatment. This is the injustice, the unfairness and horror of cancers - ovarian cancer in particular - that I can't find words to describe my sorrow, anger and fear.