The mark of an educated mind...

...is to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it, or so says Aristotle. I like this idea because I think it is important, not just because educated people make themselves feel smarter by knowing lots of different facts and points of view. I think the process of entertaining lines of thought without accepting them refines and strengthens our beliefs. If you believe something just because you've led a sheltered life and been told by your parents or private school teachers or whomever that you should believe it, even if it is right, it is almost like a person being called "healthy" because they have been quaratined their entire lives: you may not get sick, but you are no good in the world because your immune system has not been exposed and built up.

Anyway, I say all this because I just started reading "Atlas Shrugged", by Ayn Rand. She is brilliant, as is the book, but she obviously subscribes to a world view which is vastly different from mine. I love reading the opinions of brilliant people with whom I disagree, because it forces me to try and reason out why I think they are wrong and I am right. I feel like I am being exposed to germs in the air and building up my immune system.

Also, I have a story for everyone which I neglected to post. Last weekend (like 9-11 days ago) I was in Austin, TX, visiting friends and such, like Kyle and Andrew, Nicki, Steve (my old roommate and NI buddy), and people from the Austin Stone. Saturday night, I was out playing Ultimate Frisbee on the State Capitol lawn around midnight with Nicki and her friends. I had on one of my favorite shirts, my Hard Rock Cafe shirt from Hong Kong that Tara got me, and so I took it off to play so it wouldn't get disgustingly sweaty. Then, when I walked to my car, I remembered I had to take something to Kyle, so I called him and set my shirt on top of my car. After talking intently with him for a bit, we figured out what the plan was, so I drove off. Then, about halfway there, I saw some a guy with a sign begging for money. I had no money on me, and I didn't have my shirt on either, and I thought, "Sorry buddy, I don't even have a shirt." Then I thought, "Huh...where is my shirt?" I realized what happened and drove back downtown to look for it, unsuccessfully. Now some bum in Austin has my Hard Rock Cafe shirt, and he's telling the other bums all about his travels to East Asia. So, if any of you are in Austin and see a bum wearing a Hard Rock Cafe shirt from Hong Kong, please buy it off of him and give it back to me (I'll pay you back). Anyway, it was a fun weekend, and Kyle and Andrew (Meryll plug) are now on their national tour (Kyle had really long sideburns and a mustache when I saw him last).