Samantha > Recent Status Updates

"When we sense that we no longer have anything to offer to anyone, we quickly lose our grip on life."
talking about disabilities

"We women are the nurturers of society and it is up to us to change it."
❤️ ❤️ ❤️

"Service is never convenient; you just give it when it's needed" June

"he had expected neither to walk on pavements of gold, nor to lie on beds of roses; if he had had any such exalted expectation, he would not have prospered. He had expected labour, and he found it, and did it and made the best of it. In this, his prosperity consisted."

"I've heard the stories"
Believable inner dialogue?

Coppins is being hypocritical again. He seems happy to sing Romney's praises until he shows any sign of Republican leanings, which is pretty silly. Romney was, after all, elected as a Republican Senator.

There is A LOT of "astonishment". But it seems pretty one sided. I think astonishment is to be had on both sides.

Is it considered the "comfortable" middle to seek for rule of law? I think Coppins here shows his bias as well as his hypocrisy. He cannot somehow applaud Romney on the one hand for demanding that Trump obey the law of the land, and at the same time condemn him for his desire for peaceful protests that also obey the law of the land.

This book fascinates me. It isn't just a good look at Romney, but it's also a really good look at our country's fraying morality and democracy. Coppins easily points fingers at the Republican party (Trump) for contributing to that destabilization (no brainer), but I think largely ignores that the problem isn't localized to one party. Also, soooo many thoughts about Romney and his moral stance.

That was the point of his [my] mission

Blood Blood Blood
Tears
Mountain - Takeru

A baby just wasn't the same.

Luria

Also, it just doesn't make sense to label a religious experience as a "neurological tic" and then in the same sentence claim that a neurological tic remolds and shapes what is already there....
If a person's religious experience is to be considered a neurological tic, then nothing really is beyond the realm of being a "tic" including "what is already there". I suppose we are all just walking tics. Nihilism?

A bit superfluous to showcase how distinct religious experience is from seizures and then to come to the lazy conclusion of, "they simply rose above their condition".

heart and mind (emotion and reason)

I'm having a really hard time with the psychoanalytics. It is such a western view of mental health and behavior that it's really jarring to read it in a book that is suppose to be about a completely different universe with alien cultures. Just the mention of the word therapy by one of the characters is cringey since in a lot of cultures that word doesn't even exist when referencing a concept of mental health.

I have mixed feelings. Pappe has nothing good to say about any person (Jew or otherwise) with Zionist sympathies. That makes it nearly impossible for me to take him seriously. For ex., he criticizes everything from how they speak to the architecture of their buildings....not exactly convincing evidence against Israel. I may need to read another author whose biase is directed in a logical way. Still trying for now

Pappé is obviously an expert in his field. Unfortunately, his significant knowledge on this topic hasn't translated very well onto the page. His sentences are overly long and contain multiple facts, not all of which are related. Sometimes he is successfuly engaging, at other times he loses me entirely. Pappé is doing a good job of helping me understand the history. He's also blatantly biased at moments.