An Essay, sort of...
Let me first say this is more of an essay and not truly intended to make an analytical claim to truth or posit a philosophically cogent argument. Pretty odd that I feel the need to say that isn't it? I just want to clearly define which posts are rantings and which are to be taken with more gravity.
People
I believe most people are failures at communication. They cannot effectively convey what they are thinking. I thought this weakness decreased with age as experience heaped upon experience gradually toughened their resolve and equipped them with more knowledge, better insight, and deeper wisdom with which to relate to their fellow man. I'm afraid that assumption was wrong.
Perhaps I live in an area that is atypical. Maybe somewhere there are leagues of people who answer questions honestly and aren't afraid to expose emotional and intellectual weaknesses.
Or perhaps that place is here but in an echelon of people I have yet to encounter. Well, not echelon.... Not that they are higher, but different. Perhaps a group of people who share my interest in intellectual stimulation.
I know that can be found in colleges and universities. What about after? Do you have to become a lawyer or doctor, physicist or astronomer, theologian or professor to ensure that you are surrounded by peers who also crave stimulation?
What about teachers - Elementary, and Middle School, and High School? Wouldn't you think they would be interested in learning? I know some are... but can we say most?
When a person makes a promise, why do they later think it's okay that they "changed their mind." You can't change your mind on a promise. A promise suggests "I will do it unless circumstances prevent me from doing so." Circumstances are not whims of the emotive mind.
When you ask someone, "Why do you believe that?" why are they unable to give you an answer. How can they believe something if they don't know why they believe it? Isn't it natural to question why you believe something, to wonder if it's right, to explore if there is a better option?
To the people who don't question such things... How? How is that possible? Are you stupid? If you are too stupid to think about such things, do you know you're stupid? What is it like to be dumb? What's it like to not crave intellectual stimulation?
I don't understand.
And it makes me sad.
Well, not sad, but depressed. That's the truth of it - it depresses me. If I say to someone, "Hey look I wonder why they put that fire hydrant there instead of on the corner where it's easier to get to?" and they just look at me blankly or say "I dunno," What do I do?
What am I am supposed to do?
And furthermore, the fact is I don't really want to talk to people who don't wonder about fire hydrants, or don't ponder the physics of the cosmos, or haven't ever struggled with issues of ethics and morality.
I can't expect everyone to share my interests, and I don't. For example, I have no interest in pro sports. I don't care who is in the Superbowl.
But isn't there a distinct difference in an interest in sports and an interest in making progress intellectually? Hmm... That's a weak question. Let me be more clear...
Some people like bowling, others like racing, some like to knit, or hike, or build model airplanes. Those seem like interesting and perhaps even meaningful pursuits. They are both entertaining and challenging, insightful at times... But questions like "Is there a God, and if there is, how can I prove such?" or, "Is a fetus a person?" - aren't those questions something entirely different than knitting or bowling?
Or even more perplexing is people who do think about things like fetuses and gods and arrive at a conclusion but don't know how they reached that conclusion. What if the person says "Yes there is a God... because I believe it... Well that's just what I believe," or, "Abortion is wrong... It's a personal issue.... Well I think that's what's true and that's what I believe."
Where do you go from there? How can they know those things to be correct without knowing the mechanism by which to evaluate correctness?
I don't understand.
Is it just a matter of intellectual prowess? If not, then is it a matter of choosing whether to care or not? How can you choose to not care if abortion is wrong or right. I can understand not being interested really.. not wanting to focus a large amount of time on it... but not caring at all?
Hmmm. | 
