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Tenable

Fishy.

First of all:

I have increased my output. As of last week, I am writing for porkshoulder.org, a site maintained by people much smarter than me. My entries on there will be attributed to a lad named tripoli. You see? It's a pseudonym. Tripoli is most certainly "me," but I hope that using the adopted name will let me loosen up a bit. I hope to use porkshoulder.org as a more creative outlet, while this site remains focused on my own thoughts and feelings.

I have increased my love of the earth. I spent a glorious weekend near Front Royal, Virginia at a ranch.

And thanks 1,000,000 times to the generous people who have donated to my Leukemia and Lymphoma fund.

OK OK, on to the...self-indulgence:

How about that vocabulary? Tenable is an odd word, but it has recently managed to get some heavy rotation in my vernacular. I think I first came across it while studying for the GRE about a year ago, and I immediately noticed its root in the Spanish verb tener, meaning "to have." The Latin root of the word is tenere, which means "to hold." Tenere's influence sprawls through our language as the suffix "-tain," appearing in words like contain, sustain, obtain, maintain, etc. You get the idea, it's a word about control, possession, holding. Tenable can almost be defined as "haveable."

With all this talk of war, I sometimes wonder if we're in a tenable situation. I mean, won't retaliation against aggressors only further provoke them? How long can this go on? When do we know when to stop? How well will our policies stand the test of time?

If I think about this long enough, I come to the following realization: cycles of violence spiral throughout all recorded history. Call me a cynic, but I don't believe that peace is tenable in a world of scarce resources. Taken a step further, the fact that we are all going to die leads me to believe that life isn't tenable.

I don't want to get ahead of myself. I don't want to sound so gloomy because I'm not despondent. In fact, my feelings on the matter are not borne of cynicism but of a rudimentary understanding of history and human nature. In fact, I feel that by accepting the reality of violence, I am better able to respond to it and have a positive impact on the world. I'll forego a discussion of what motivates violence, and instead echo last week's entry and say that I am willing to fight for freedom wherever it is needed. The historical figures who I honor most are those extremists for justice who were willing to fight, peacefully or not, for the liberty of all humankind.

So will I be peaceful or not? It depends. I'm not in the military and I have no plans of joining the military. Why? Because while I believe war is natural, it's obviously not the best way to ensure peace. I am more interested in using diplomatic and economic tools to quell misunderstandings throughout the world. Perhaps there will come a time when I have to take up a weapon to defend what I believe is right. I hope I have the fortitude to do so if needed, but until then, I believe that most people (such as me) would be most useful working within their own sphere of influence. I mean to say that while I would like to save the world, I should probably focus on leading a peaceful life in my home, on my street, at work, in my community, my city, and so on. Honestly, there's only so much I can do, and I think it's better to focus on what I can do instead of what I can't. It's a question of what's tenable.