lally’s blog

If things had gone differently, this would be called "Ode to a dead spider." 

There I was, ready to hop in to take a shower, when (as happened so many times before), there was a creature in the bathtub.

A spider. 

Now the interesting thing about a tub-- used for our daily hygiene-- is that it is a death trap for anything small and without wings.  Most people--at least I believe this because this is what I have done countless times before-- attempt to kill the spider. 

Maybe it would have been easier if I just took a wad of toilet paper and killed it instantly..it wouldn't suffer, and spiders live a short time, so why not?

Of course, I hate to be "the killer" of anything.  So I splashed some water on the spider, trying to climb up the slippery tub wall.  He couldn't, so I splashed more water at him, easing into my automatic mode of sending the spider to a watery death. 

But then something happened as i was splashing water at him...

he kept trying to evade the water.  tried desperately to inch up the wall, his long legs struggling to find a foothold.  He couldn't.  He kept trying, trying, anything to save himself from impending doom. 

It was then that a certain feeling shot through my heart.  What if I was that spider, and there was some nasty giant trying to drown me so that he could clean himself?  I felt: life isn't fair, but must we submit to contributing to others suffering? I mean, I was not a large elephant unseeingly crushing an ant under its foot.  I had a choice -- c-h-o-i-c-e --whether to kill the spider. 

And suddenly I desperately wanted to save him.  I went out of the bathroom, got a piece of paper from the printer, and began to coax the spider onto it.  Of course, he ran away from the paper.  I cursed out loud: "you stupid thing, I'm trying to save you!"

I got him onto the corner of the paper, then dropped it on the floor.  There was no window in the bathroom.  Where would I take him?

...he wouldn't budge from the corner...

he's playing dead, I reasoned, and suddenly lit on the idea of carrying him to the window in the room.  Of course it was a bit awkward, not having any clothes on, and holding a piece of paper with a spider on it, which I'll admit, somewhat freaks me out! but I got him to the window.

...he still wouldn't budge..

I tried to open the window with one hand.  It was stuck.  Damn it, I thought, the spider's going to crawl up my arm.  But he didn't budge, while I was shaking the paper while trying to open the window with the other hand.  He must have been terrified.

But I got the window open, and quickly dropped him on the window ledge (its a second story window) you're on your own now, I thought.

And there I was, naked, having gone to the trouble of saving a spider in the bathtub, and I felt great, like I had just performed a great community service. 

After all, who was I to play God, and effect a choice that determined whether the spider should live or die? It didn't matter that he was a spider, he was still a living organism.  If he had the mental capabilities, I'm sure he would've thanked me. 

 If you ever feel powerless in this world, help something smaller than yourself.  Your beneficence will make all the difference. 

"the strong reach out in all directions, there are no good

giants...O believe this--

correct the fables, revise your children's nursery rhymes,

tell them it is wrong even for the good to be too strong.

Even a lover turns tyrant...with love's scepter for power." --walter benton

We see it in every fairy tale, every Disney movie-- good always triumphs over evil.  We expect the victory, the wedding, the happy ending that accompanies all the books we read as children.  And yet, what happens in the subsequent chapters that we never access?  Sequels aside, it is important to think what comes after.  Does Cinderella and her prince reign over an imperialistic nation?  Does Cinderella pay her handmaidens minimum wage?

And so it goes in the non-fantasy world.  Is it possible to become powerful yet remain good at the same time? The poet above does not think so.  And yet, I am continuously believing that we will find one politician that serves the masses, that doesn't bend to partisan politics, that will be something like the next Messiah.  But there's another question-- when Jesus started a new religion did he think that one day when certain Christians were in power they would kill other non-Christians? (This is not just the case for Christianity, but practicslly every religion in this world).  That good would turn out to be evil--is it just human nature?

"the strong reach out in all directions, there are no good

giants...O believe this--

correct the fables, revise your children's nursery rhymes,

tell them it is wrong even for the good to be too strong.

Even a lover turns tyrant...with love's scepter for power." --walter benton

We see it in every fairy tale, every Disney movie-- good always triumphs over evil.  We expect the victory, the wedding, the happy ending that accompanies all the books we read as children.  And yet, what happens in the subsequent chapters that we never access?  Sequels aside, it is important to think what comes after.  Does Cinderella and her prince reign over an imperialistic nation?  Does Cinderella pay her handmaidens minimum wage?

And so it goes in the non-fantasy world.  Is it possible to become powerful yet remain good at the same time? The poet above does not think so.  And yet, I am continuously believing that we will find one politician that serves the masses, that doesn't bend to partisan politics, that will be something like the next Messiah.  But there's another question-- when Jesus started a new religion did he think that one day when certain Christians were in power they would kill other non-Christians? (This is not just the case for Christianity, but practicslly every religion in this world).  That good would turn out to be evil--is it just human nature?

Before I delve into my first political blog of the season, I just want to state that in matters of politics, while not agreeing with all opinions involved I respect the fact that there may be different opinions and that everyone is entitled to speak their mind freely. With this in mind, I freely and respectfully speak my mind on what I believe to be injustices arising out of the US presence in Iraq.

If you are a reader of the progressive magazine Mother Jones you may already have heard what I'm about to say. In particular, I am going to go over certain statistics that come from the research by Mother Jones.

As of January 2007, there are 3,021 dead US soldiers. That is in and of itself a large number, and does not count the number of people maimed or paralyzed by the war. Then, there is an estimate of 70,100 to 601,000 Iraqi civilians killed in Iraq. That's 23 times as many people, and they weren't even soldiers! For compensation for a dead US military private, who leaves behind a spouse and three children, the compensation to the family is $500,000 plus $40,000 annually. For compensation for each member of an Iraqi family that dies from a US missile, the compensation to family (what family?) is up to a measly $2,500 per person.

And then what to make of the proposed US embassy in Baghdad, which is about the same size as the Vatican?

Of the 1000 staff there, 3% speak arabic and only 6 are fluent! What kind of foreign embassy is that?

To lessen the heavy atmosphere instilled from these statistics (or perhaps the charged atmosphere?), I will talk a little bit about some new things I learned in physics.

I'm reading the book The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene, and while its been out for a while its new info to me and maybe will be to you. Its about string theory, which states that all the particles that make up matter and that make up the physical forces in the universe (gravitational, electromagnetic, strong and weak nuclear forces) are made of tiny (so tiny that it can't be detected with our current technology) 1 dimensional loops or “strings”. These strings vibrate at different frequencies and these vibrations determine the nature of a particle, whether it is an electron, a quark (a subatomic particle) or a gravitron (the smallest bundle of gravitational force). There are only 12 particles that are the smallest possible particles of mass and 4 particles that make up the smallest bundles of forces, and these all correspond to a specific frequency of vibrations. My question: what if the strings vibrate at a different frequency than the 16 frequencies that make up the 16 particles? Do you get new particles as a result? And WHO made these tiny strings? Or were they always there?  How did they form out of the big bang?  And what about before the big bang, before time existed?  Ahh, too many questions!  I love theoretical physics! :)

All the political statistics in this blog entry are from the article titled "Sunni, Shiite?...anyone?anyone?" and compiled by Robert Dreyfuss and Dave Gilson.  This article was published in the March-April 2007 issue of Mother Jones. 

This is the second entry, because I felt the first entry was lame. 

Let me tell you what this blog is going to be all about: everything I decide should go on it!  This includes poems, politics, tidbits about astronomy and biology, and good old fashioned ramble now and then. 

Who am I and why should you read this?

I'm a Master's student in the US, studying biology, and people tell me I have an interesting personality.  Hopefully this manifests itself in what I write. 

I'm not promising anything, but if you do comment, I will probably read your posts and comment back on them also.  :)