Category: Philosophically Speaking

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“I would rather be ashes than dust!

I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.

I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

The function of man is to live, not to exist.

I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.

I shall use my time.” 

The function of man is to live, not to exist.

I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.

I shall use my time.” 

― Jack London

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The one good blessing of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) is the constant need to nurse my brain with images or music. Once I’ve falling into Dave’s zone, all ambient sounds wither away and evaporates into silence. So, like an addict looking for a fix, I got my smack from a Ford Pinto that has been entirely shielded with hundreds of tiny mirrors. It’s a potpourri of blue sky, me, and self-realization by reflection, which make me  appear larger then I am. Philosophically speaking, reflection is the careful examination of life situation. It involves the weighing of several alternative and using specific standards to evaluate one’s actions and build on previous decisions. As the old saying goes, “you are what you do.” 

Speaking of reflection and evaluating one’s actions, the Pinto was notorious for its moronically design by the Ford company. It seems the car was prone to explosions from rear-end collisions thanks to the gas tank being positioned directly behind the back bumper. This was happening from 1970 to 1980. But the “reflection” of large conglomerates like Ford is that in the end, human life is just a dollar value. So when the Pinto problem began to get widespread, Ford did a cost-benefit analysis and decided that facing a lawsuit and making settlements was cheaper than to recall the Pintos and fix the problem. Never mind the nearly 180 people annually who were charred to death in their death-trap Pinto. Far from Henry Ford’s ideology of each American having an affordable car, at that time Ford believed that a dangerous car should just be let loose, never mind the damages. 

Oh by the way, “Pinto” is a term used to describe a man’s Johnson that is less than five inches in length when perpendicular. It seems at the time Ford couldn’t rise to the occasion or measure up to doing the right thing.