Well, it's Holy Friday. Retail shops were closed, which is almost sacrilegious to those that disdain the religious. However, many cafes and restaurants were open, surely a suitable compromise for the secular world? I paid a 10% surcharge for the kids Pizza and yet the Assyrian Kebab shop supplied me with Vegetable Iskanders at normal price. That also seems to be a suitable compromise.
Compromise might be the wrong word, or it might be the right word. I see compromise as where everyone loses equally. Some people seek compromise, I personally see it as a last resort. I'm still young enough to have the youthful optimism of win-win, and old enough to give enemies no quarter. In this case though, secular society is not my enemy, and aside from the few that prefer winge-winge over win-win, Christian and atheist alike are quite capable of marking Easter as a time of deeper reflection, connection with family and friends, and perhaps in that path, find a connection with a deeper faith in life, in all it's impersonal cruelty and intimate interdependence.
It has greater significance to the devout Christian of course. It's more than a mere holiday, or an excuse to eat chocolate. But in seeking the answers to questions of faith, you will find answers to the meaning of life. Something even atheists confess to entertain. We find such philosophy on the cross, and philosophers might do well to ponder the nature of that sacrifice. I find some contrast and yet relevance, in the philosophic questions around the right to die. If philosophy cannot answer such fundamental questions on life or death, and for that matter, the value of life, it would be a poor philosophy indeed.
Such topics seem all far too serious for a Friday Night Free for All, but this is perhaps the most serious Friday night of the year.
Even so, drop by and just say hello. Confess, if you will, to your favourite Easter Egg. I like the marshmallow types. Simple, low cost and yummy!
Compromise might be the wrong word, or it might be the right word. I see compromise as where everyone loses equally. Some people seek compromise, I personally see it as a last resort. I'm still young enough to have the youthful optimism of win-win, and old enough to give enemies no quarter. In this case though, secular society is not my enemy, and aside from the few that prefer winge-winge over win-win, Christian and atheist alike are quite capable of marking Easter as a time of deeper reflection, connection with family and friends, and perhaps in that path, find a connection with a deeper faith in life, in all it's impersonal cruelty and intimate interdependence.
It has greater significance to the devout Christian of course. It's more than a mere holiday, or an excuse to eat chocolate. But in seeking the answers to questions of faith, you will find answers to the meaning of life. Something even atheists confess to entertain. We find such philosophy on the cross, and philosophers might do well to ponder the nature of that sacrifice. I find some contrast and yet relevance, in the philosophic questions around the right to die. If philosophy cannot answer such fundamental questions on life or death, and for that matter, the value of life, it would be a poor philosophy indeed.
Such topics seem all far too serious for a Friday Night Free for All, but this is perhaps the most serious Friday night of the year.
Even so, drop by and just say hello. Confess, if you will, to your favourite Easter Egg. I like the marshmallow types. Simple, low cost and yummy!