Re: ply What does it take to get a handle on math?
From: Ioannis (morpheus_at_olympus.mons)
Date: 07/08/04
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Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2004 19:17:05 +0300
Paul E wrote:
[snip]
> Er… How can one think *too* hard?
[snip]
It started out innocently enough. I began to think at
parties now and then just to loosen up a little. Inevitably though,
one thought led to another, and soon I was more than
just a social thinker. I began to think alone - "to relax," I told
myself - but I knew it wasn't true.
Thinking became more and more important to me, and
finally I was thinking all the time. I began to think
on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't
mix, but I couldn't stop myself. I began to avoid
friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and
Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and
confused, asking, "What is it exactly we are doing
here?"
Things weren't going so great at home either. One
evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife
about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her
mother's.
I soon had a reputation as a heavy thinker.
One day
the boss called me in. He said, "Skippy, I like you,
and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has
become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on
the job, I'll have to let you go." This gave me a lot to think about.
I came home early after my conversation with the boss.
Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking..."
I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a
divorce!" But Honey, surely it's not that serious."
"It is serious," she said, lower lip a quiver. "You
think as much as college professors, and college
professors don't make any money, so if you keep on
thinking we won't have any money!"
"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently, and
she began to cry.
I'd had enough. "I'm going to the library," I snarled
as I stomped out the door.
I headed for the library, in the mood for some
Nietzsche, with NPR on the radio. I roared into the
parking lot and ran up to the big glass doors...they
didn't open. The library was closed. To this day, I
believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me
that night.
As I sank to the ground clawing at the unfeeling
glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my
eye. "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it
asked. You probably recognize that line. It comes from
the standard Thinkers Anonymous poster.
Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering
thinker. I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we
watch a non-educational video; last week it was
"Porky's." Then we share experiences about how we
avoided thinking since the last meeting.
I still have my job, and things are a lot better at
home. Life just seemed... easier, somehow, as soon as
I stopped thinking.
Soon, I will be able to vote Republican
-- I. N. Galidakis http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/jgal/ ------------------------------------------ Eventually, _everything_ is understandable
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