Why We Need a Third Party Candidate - Thursday Thought #11

I hope my poorly-drawn political cartoon raises the point that a table cannot stand on two legs. If a two-legged table tried to lift any sort of political balance, well, it would fail.

This is why I firmly believe that America needs greater representation from a third party. Even if the major political parties can't agree on many things, they can agree that a third party threatens them both. Members of these parties often claim that if you vote for a third party, you're throwing away your vote.

Of course, that myth only serves to hold people's heads down. If voters feel like voting for a third party is useless, then they won't even try, instead casting their vote for a presidential candidate they might not even like because it's a 'safer bet.'

But that reasoning is flawed. Let me tell you about the Monty Hall problem.

You can read more about it here, but, in essence, the Monty Hall problem places you in front of three doors. A host explains that a prize lies behind each door. Two of the doors contain goats, while the last has a brand new car. The host invites you to pick a door, which you do. He then opens one of the two other doors, revealing a goat inside. You are then invited to either stick your with original pick, or open the third, unopened door. Whichever of the last two doors you open, you get to keep.

Let's get to the point. Let's say your host opens the door to reveal the first goat. Now, goats are pretty nice, and you may even prefer to take a goat home. But if you really like goats all that much, you could sell the brand new car and buy even more goats. The point is, the car is Monty Hall's best deal.

Would you really be satisfied with just taking the first goat (or even the second goat) knowing you could have won a car?

So it goes with politics. Many people genuinely believe in and admire their political parties, and I respect that. At the same time, many individuals vote for politicians just because they're there, because they're flapping their mouths on the news and have their names in headlines. And anyone can have their name in a headlines.

So what can you do?

As for me, I went onto isidewith.com and took their quiz.

I found out where I stood in politics.

I discovered which presidential candidate I most matched with.

The fact that I found a third party candidate so appealing was convenient, but unsurprising given my disdain for the top party's current nominees.

But see, it didn't really matter. When isidewith.com pointed me to Better For America, I devoured their content with eagerness.

Better For America is a movement dedicated to ensuring that a third party candidate gets coverage in this upcoming election. Better For America is trying to build a table that can stand on its own, not wobble on two legs.

I signed the heck up.

I invite you to do the same.

The Strong Ox and the Weak Ox - A Parable [V-Day Week 2016 EXTRA]

As I wrote last Wednesday's post, I thought of a cool little parable to illustrate my points. Unfortunately, the post became super long, so I decided to cut the parable and feature it in a different post.

 If you would like to know what inspired this story, or if you would like more knowledge about how oxen pull together, click here and read the three paragraphs that begin with "President Boyd K. Packer ..."

A group of oxen were milling around in their pasture when a farmer came by. "Hey there, oxes!" he said.

"We're called oxen," the Nerdy Ox said.

"Whatever," the farmer said. "I need two of you oxes to pull my cart to the next farm over. Who's willing to lend me a hand?"

"We don't have hands, but we'll lend you a hoof!" the Nerdy Ox said.

The farmer pointed at the Nerdy Ox. "He's not invited. Is anyone else willing to volunteer?"

Two oxen stepped forward. One was much larger than the other. "We can do it," said the Strong Ox. "I'm a little bit stronger than him, but we're best friends. I'm sure we can manage."

"Well, let me yoke ya, and we'll get goin'!" said the farmer.

The two oxen pulled the farmer's cart along. However, the Small Ox tired. He had to push much harder to keep up with his stronger friend. It didn't take long for the Small Ox to drag his hooves. The Strong Ox didn't notice at first, pulling her load as best as she could, but because she carried a majority of the weight, she tired as well. Both oxen came to a stop.

"What are you doing?" the farmer said. "We still have miles and miles to go!"

"Something is wrong," the Strong Ox said. She looked to her smaller companion. "What is wrong, my friend?"

The Small Ox ducked his head in shame. "I am not as strong as you. I cannot keep up with your pace, and as such, have allowed you to pull most of the weight."

"I see," said the Strong Ox. "I really did believe we could do it together. However, I see that, because I am stronger than you, we cannot work as a team as well as we would like to. Let us go back, and I will find a more equal partner."

The oxen pulled the cart back to the pasture. The farmer replaced the Small Ox with the New Ox, whose strength matched the Strong Ox. The Small Ox watched with sadness as his friend worked with the New Ox to pull the farmer's cart forward out of sight.

After some time, a new farmer came rolling up in his cart. "I need two oxen to help me pull my cart to the next farm!" he said.

"Thank you for calling us oxen!" the Nerdy Ox said. "I was worried none of you ignorant farmers knew anything about proper English semantics!"

The new farmer thought about what the Nerdy Ox would taste like in a burger.

The Small Ox turned away from new farmer, ashamed, but then the Other Ox nuzzled his side. The Small Ox saw she was close to his size. 

"Come on," the Other Ox said. "Let us pull this farmer's cart."

"But I already failed to pull one cart," the Small Ox said. "How can I pull another?"

"Because we are of the same size," the Other Ox said. "And together, we will share the load."

So the new farmer yoked the Small Ox and the Other Ox. 

The two oxen shared the same weight and load. Neither pushed ahead of the other. Together, they pulled the cart all the way to the next farm over, where the Strong Ox and the New Ox waited.

Modern-Day Parable: Hectic Campus

Matthew 20:1-16 - The Parable of the Eleventh Hour* 

I liked the spring and summer semesters over here. Campus was quiet, you saw more individuals than you did crowds, you had more silence to think into ...

Of course, that all changed when fall semester started. 

Walking through the library recently prompted some amount of rage on my part. I'd already been struggling with finding a good internet connection, a near impossible task considering the thousands of people trying to use the school's wifi at the same time. When I saw all these individuals milling around and doing whatever it was they were trying to do, I felt a bit like my country had been invaded by an opposing army. 

I staked my claim here long ago! I thought. Who are all of you to take a break and then come back to school like you own the place? Get out of here!

I knew I was being stupid, of course. They were paying for the same privileges I was.

That, of course, got me thinking about the parable told in Matthew 20. As always, the link is up there at the very top. Be sure to hit me up with any comments or questions! And don't forget the poll!

*aka The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

10 Virgins: A Modern-Day Take

Matthew 25:1 - "Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins ..."

So, my Transatlantic Literay History class lasts for two hours every other day. This class has many pros and cons, the first of the latter being that you have to sit there for two hours straight. A pro is that it's for my major. A con is that this class is making me seriously reconsider my choice of major. A pro is that at least I'll know for what I'm not cut out. A con is that I may have to start all over on a different major.

GETTING TO KNOW YOURSELF IS FUN.

Anyway, yesterday, I had breakfast a good three hours before this here class of mine, eating only a few bowls of cereal and a banana. I didn't think too much of it until our professors allowed us our usual three-minute break sometimes in the middle of class. As I walked out to stretch my legs, I could feel something rumblin' in my tumblin'.

Oh snap, I thought. The last time I'd felt that way, I'd had a low blood sugar reaction, ended up sweating all over my good suit and a few innocent by-standers, and gorged myself for the rest of the day with no signs of stopping.

If I just went and bought a bag of chips, it would tide myself over.

Eh, I can wait an hour.

The classroom discussion dragged me back into the twin topics of historical context and poetry, which I have identified as being the main reasons why I don't like this class right now (More on that later this week, probably). I was very fidgety. Not only was my body flashing warning signs that I needed food, and soon, I wanted to get to the part of the discussion where we talked about Nathaniel Hawthorne and his writings, his pieces being the only things that had at all captured me during the in-class readings.

But then, I felt it.

Like greasy slugs sliding out of a series of sewer pipes, my sweat glands began to expand, slowly allowing oozing beads of salty body water to creep onto my unprotected flesh. My stomach began to howl as these slugs dampened my armpits, releasing a distinct scent of man-musk into the air that permeated the air around me. Gasping, I felt my attention, divided though it had already been, devolve into a primal animal with naught but one word on the mind.

Food.

FOOD.

FOOD.

I leapt over my classmates and bolted out of the room, leaving all my possessions behind.

Like a ravenous giraffe, I stormed across campus, only moving barely fast enough to keep me from exerting any more energy than I needed to lest I expend too much and collapse before the end. Thankfully, there were few other animals in the Subway Forest, so I was able to quickly grab a six-inch. And a bag of chips. And a cookie. And a red creme soda. Before heading back to class.

By the time I arrived back at class, the very worst possible thing had occurred.

They'd discussed Nathaniel Hawthorne without me.

Setting Goals: NaNoMo Day 9

D&C 1:12 - "Prepare ye, prepare ye for that which is to come, for the Lord is nigh."

NaNoMo or NaNoWriMo or whatever you call it is still underway. I'm taking the challenge to write a novel in a month seriously, and as you can see by the graph the official website kindly made for me, I'm doing an all right job staying on par.

Yesterday, though, was a bit of a setback, at least in my mind. I ended up getting pretty caught up in a lot of other things, including an unexpected nap, a dinner out, a very long D&D session, and even work. As it was, it was the first day I failed to reach my daily goal of 2000 words a day.

Oh, sure, I've consistently outpaced myself each and every day, giving myself a nice little buffer to work with (since I don't write on Sundays, that means I've only actually worked on the novel seven days this month, meaning my personal par should be about 14,000 right now), but if I slip every day, if I fail to make each step ... well, let's consider the below analogy.

In achieving a goal, you must consider it like a flight of stairs. Yes, you may want to reach the top, but if you try to leap up there in a single bound, you will probably crack your shins on a stair and fall all the way back down. Of course, no one except for Superman tries to ascend the stairs that way. Rather, we pick up one foot, put it down, pick up the next, put it slightly higher up, slowly ascending, watching each step, until you finally make it to the top. It is the careful consideration and execution of each step that enables us to reach our goal.

Now, a lot of people tell me they're impressed with the dedication I'm demonstrating in sticking to it. One person told me, "I meet so many people who want to be novelists, and they never do anything about it." I firmly believe most people fail to reach their goals because they see the top of the stairs for the top of the stairs alone. They don't plan each step; they just try to tackle everything at once.

In the case of my novel, I sat down and did the math. I calculated the bare minimum of how much I would need to write each day to succeed. I keep myself to that schedule, and I am finding success. Time will tell if I possess the determination and drive to actually succeed (I just finalized my schedule for the upcoming week, and HOLY COW am I busy with a lot of distractions). 

I can promise all of you that, if there is something you want to achieve, something you have on a bucket list, something you know you can do but haven't started yet, today is the day! Make the plans! Promise yourself you'll follow the steps you set for yourself, and push out. There is nothing more fulfilling in life than achieving those goals you set, and as you practice in simple things like novel-writing, you will only become better prepared for the steps you will take toward the Celestial Kingdom.