October 5, 2011

• Timing

  Timing

  Timing, I'm told, can be very important. To some extent I'm sure it's true. If you think about driving a car, piloting a boat or airplane you will understand the statement, A miss is as good as a mile. What makes a miss? More often than not, it's timing. If you play a musical instrument, compose music or have studied music theory you have an understanding of the importance of timing. Change the time signature on a familiar piece of music enough and what was once familiar can quickly become unfamiliar and sometimes very unpleasant. The difference between being understood and confusion, when we speak, can have a great deal to do with the timing of our speech. Some people can tell a joke and have a room full of people doubled over in laughter. Others can tell the same joke and leave the same people scratching their heads. Timing the punchline can make or break a joke. Okay, I think I've said quiet enough about timing. You get the idea, right?

  What's all this about timing? Why is James going on about timing? Announcements can be well or ill timed. Since a month ago today I've been out of the country. Way out of the country! Right now I'm sitting in my room in Prilep, Macedonia. In the event you don't know where that is, think about Greece. Though most Greeks would be loath to admit it or acknowledge it, Macedonia shares a border with Greece to the latter's north. If you know your world geography you're probably not an American. If you are an American and you know your world geography, congratulations! You win the prize! Macedonia is also known to much of the world as the Former Republic of Yugoslavia. Yes, that's right! The country that gave us that little car many years ago, the Yugo. They are still here in great number. Still running after more than thirty or more years. The big players in the world will not acknowledge Macedonia as a nation. The European Union will not permit them to be a part of the Union because it would upset the politics due to the claim, by Greeks, that Macedonia is Greek. Many, otherwise lovely Greek people, can be very adamant and closed minded about it so there's no sense in trying to tell them otherwise or to use the famous Greek logic to help them get past the prejudice. Don't even talk about Alexander the Great being a Macedonian because that could get you in a very unpleasant situation in Greece. I know. I spent a week in a little seaside town in Greece last month. Wonderful people if you don't mention this sore subject of Macedonia and Alexander the Great. The interesting thing about history is how it can be, and is, rewritten by whomever is in power at the time. I think it's called revisionism, which according to the dictionary is a policy of revision or modification, especially of Marxism on evolutionary socialist (rather than revolutionary) or pluralist principles. Don't asks me what that means. I don't understand it well enough to put it simply and remain politically correct. If you prefer there's a second choice of definition for revisionism. It's the theory or practice of revising one's attitude to a previously accepted situation or point of view. This one doesn't fit so well because so few people ever do that in practice in the real world. When I say the real world I mean this unreal world in which we live. 

  As usual, I've gotten carried away and not made the point of all this. For those of you who have had the sand to stick it out this far, well, what's wrong with you anyway? Don't you have anything better to do? Is there nothing of interest on tv? Okay, that's a rhetorical question. If you've made it this far you can read, and many people with that skill don't see a great deal of tv or think much of the choices afforded us on the tube. All this to announce a new site we've been working on the past couple of weeks. It's a big job, but we're nearly finished so I'm hoping that the timing on this is not premature. The site is called Esoteric Talks and if you click on those two words you should be spirited directly to it where I hope you will find time to listen, read and share. It wouldn't hurt my feelings if you shared the link with others on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other places since I think there's a lot of useful information there for our world during this tumultuous time. Thanks for your patience. I hope you got something from all these words. I meant to convey useful ideas to enrich your mind. If I have failed please accept my apology and go visit the site anyway.

  • 12:09 pm
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