~_^

Litany
Billy Collins

You are the bread and the knife,
The crystal goblet and the wine...
-Jacques Crickillon

You are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker,
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.

However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.

It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general's head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.

And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.

It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.

I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.

I am also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman's tea cup.
But don't worry, I'm not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and -- somehow -- the wine.

let's all jump!

first, let's get into nicely packaged debt that we can't possibly repay to buy a house that we don't really intend to live on or even need, then when we all default on the loans, let's all panic and bring down the whole economy. after all, money is only worth as much as we think it's worth (technically, it's just cotton fabric, intrinsically worth just a little more than the same amount of toilet paper), so we can just make up our mind that money, and everything that represents money, such as houses we don't need, can be worth as much or less as our panic buttons dictate.

that way, since the world is now interconnected, we'll bring down the entire global economy!

should we give a shit?

given the concept of probabilistic causality -- i.e., that cause and effect might be too permeated with randomness as to make intervention a futile effort -- should we even help "make the world a better place", when it could very well be likely that our efforts, and anyone else's efforts, are ultimately in vain?

or should we just sit and watch TV?



by the way, a nice paper on Probabilistic Causation can be found here: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/causation-probabilistic/