Ice Breaker Question:

Headline 12/7/2017 MSNBC: Man rescues rabbit from wild fire in California.  Did you see this?  A man hopping up and down in hairy panic, focused on something or someone, with the raging wildfire in backdrop.  A tiny wild rabbit (probably a hare), marched across this flaming stage unhinged (presumably singed), into the arms of a man named Oscar (possibly a future Tony) and disappears into the night (surely daytime, but with all the smoke…).  What was your gut reaction when you first saw this or heard about it?  The comments on this news story contained some maligning of the harey Samaritan. What detriment did he done did?

Question of the Night:

Mahatma Gandhi ~ “Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the truth, for being correct, for being you. Never apologize for being correct, or for being years ahead of your time. If you’re right and you know it, speak your mind. Speak your mind. Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth.”  Describe the ripple effect of contentment with the accommodation of a lie.  Describe the immediate disruption for pursuit of an unpopular truth.  Which has more prevalence?  Which has more impact?

Other Questions:

From the book ‘Autumn,’ by Karl Ove Knausgaard ~ To turn 40 (pick an age) is to realize that one’s limitations will last one’s whole life through, but also to know that all the time… new layers are being added to one’s character… What limitations of “self” do you believe are being referred to?  How does added character manifest itself over time?  If sterling character can be added over time, what are the personality flaws that might tarnish one’s character with age?

 Donald Trump ~ I’m automatically attracted to beautiful. Not surprising, we all are – by definition.  In Richard Prums’ new book, The Evolution of Beauty, he surmised that Darwin believed aesthetic mating choices were made largely by females. How does this idea scan with you?  What is your theory on who chooses who in a significant relationship?

Is Darwinism the culmination of Martin Luther questioning orthodoxy, rendering concepts like heaven and hell irrelevant?  If Darwinism trumps Creationism, what happens to heaven and hell?

Have you seen the Lactaid commercial?  A lactose intolerant woman drinking her Café au lait, is surprised by a sarcastic talking cow (is there any other kind?) who mo(o)cks her unsuppressed gastrointestinal stress by imitating flatulence, disturbingly, by slowly releasing air from an inflated party balloon.  A noble bovine appears and boots sarcastic cow out, then introduces the product Lactaid and states, “Try Lactaid, it’s real milk!”  How is food real if it is adulterated?  If nature joins compounds together and man puts then asunder, who is being served?  What is being served (Parkay?)  How can whole foods be of benefit when they are halved?

Not Recommended (if you scare) In 1973, Frenchy Fuqua, of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team, exhibited an obscure fetish (possibly Finnish).  He would wear platform shoes having see-through heels that contained water and a live tropical fish selected from his aquarium to match the color of the day’s outfit. In 1979, Steve Martin made us aware of the popular Mexican sport of cat juggling in his movie, “The Jerk”.  In 2006, Dubai hired a law firm when they were accused of trafficking boys to be used as camel jockeys in the United Arab Emirates.  Exploitation of vulnerable populations, though evolving and inventive, remains popular and robust even today.  What are the ingredients of exploitation that make its consumption so enduring?  What forms of exploitation or degradation do you find yourself standing up against?

Optional (if you dare) Inspired by Barbara Kingsolver’s book, “Flight Behavior” ~ You stepped out from a flourishing hill top on a moon lit evening into a mysterious valley and chased an alluring butterfly into the darkness until the phases faded from waxing enchantment to waning endurance and, finally, to the impossibility of a return.  What were the circumstances you left?  What were you chasing?  How do your current conditions compare to those once flourishing on the hill top in the moonlight once upon a time?