Perle Champion

Day 21 of Blogging from A to Z.  Today’s letter is U

U is for Universe Urban Urchin

urban universe
inner urchin champing at
society’s bit

Living in the city these days is forever changed.  My siblings and I ran free as children, by bike, skate and foot until mother whistled us in at dark.

After dinner, we’d run up to a friend’s and lay out on the front lawn staring at the night sky on summer nights hoping for a shooting star or ufo; imagining walking on the moon. We’d rel uctantly go in when called in at 8 or 9 or sometimes 10, only to go out the next day and do it all again.

Today, my friends with small children keep their children in secure back yards, and sit in chairs to watch them in the front yard or drive them to ‘play dates.

Day 17 of Blogging from A to Z.  Today’s letter is Q

Q Is for Quodlibet, Quibbles & Quarrels

quodlibet quibbles
grow to quarrels when questioned
mules wearing blinders

© Perle Champion

Quodlibet is a disputation on a philosophical or theological point.  These days few people or nations, for that matter, know how to have civilized discourse or debate on their preconceived ideals or the issues of the day.

Each person or nation stands firm, determined to convince the other at the outset that their belief is the only truth one and all others are wrong.  There is rarely an open mind on either side.  (Kierkegaard says it best; see quote below).

I no longer discuss, and rarely voice my beliefs to certain people, because it just isn’t worth my time.  I most certainly don’t have the patience with someone that believes if they shout loud enough and drown out other viewpoints, then they win.  I’m not sure what they think they win except to shut out any possibility of learning something new.

“The most terrible fight is not when there is one opinion against another, the most terrible is when two men say the same thing – and fight about the interpretation, and this interpretation involves a difference of quality.”

– Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) Danish Philosopher. The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard: A selection, no 1057 (ed. And tr. By Alexander, 1938), 1850 entry.