First Published: 2022 November 13
2 Thessalonians 3:10 “In fact, when we were with you, we instructed you that if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat.”
As a brief preface, I really only focus on the Second Reading today, and in particular a single verse from it. That verse pertains to the nature of work in the Catholic worldview.
A question that I’ve had for a while is what the Church teaches about intellectual property. So far as I can tell, it doesn’t really have any teachings. The Church does, however, have a number of teachings on physical property.
One of these is that St. Paul’s exhortation requiring people to be willing to work comes with it the duty to give them what they need to work. I, personally, take that to mean that intellectual property also belongs generally to the public. Of course, the Church strongly states that we have a right to individual property, not just public use. The defense of copyright from that perspective is that we have a right to the profit potential of an idea.
For many reasons, that strikes me as a hollow argument. After all, most of the profit coming from ideas is not from individuals, but from corporations. Corporations preventing other corporations from using an idea they’ve created is something I don’t have strong feelings about, but I do strongly believe that an individual working for their own benefit should be able to use whatever tools they can that do not harm another. That is, since sharing information does not take it from the sharer, there is no legitimate cause, in my mind, for people to have the right to hoard knowledge. Additionally, is the right to profit really a right at all?
I am reminded of a quote from Saint Basil the Great, “The one who steals clothes off someone’s back is called a thief. Why should we refer to the one who does not clothe the naked, while having the means to do so, as anything else? The bread that you have belongs to the hungry, the clothes that are in your cupboard belong to the naked, the shoes that are rotting in your possession belong to the barefooted, the money that you have buried belongs to the destitute. And so you commit injustice to so many when you could have helped them.” Just as we would say that you should not forcibly take bread from someone with much to give to one who is little, but the one with much is in the wrong, we should not take the intellectual property from one who has it to give to one who does not. But, that’s the great thing about information. It isn’t taken when it’s shared.
I have two more points about St. Paul’s quote. The first is that he does not say that people who do not work should not eat, only that if someone is unwilling to work. Too often, society takes the assumption that anyone not working must not want to work. However, doing work that is not fulfilling to you or beneficial to the community is not work that we are called to do. One unwilling to do this meaningless work should not be punished, at least in my reading of the text.
Finally, just after Paul tells us this, he reminds us that paying attention to the doings of others is also not Christian. That is, he does not say that we should not feed the person who does not work, but that they should not eat. He then makes it very clear that it is not our place to decide who is and is not willing to work.
First Published: 2022 November 8
Yesterday was my grandmother’s birthday. It’s a strange day for me, because it is a little sad. I still miss her, if only intellectually.
On the other hand, though, I can no longer remember most of what used to make me sad about her absence, let alone her. The only pieces of her voice that I can recall are from the voicemail that my dear brother had1 for the longest time. When I try to picture her face, I can only see the photographs of her that we keep in our home.
It’s strange for me to realize that I’ve been without grandparents for nearly half my life now. A lot of the poems I’ve been writing this month have centered around memory, especially the generational memory that I feel like I’m missing.2 In retrospect, November is a month that always has so many calls to my past, so it’s unsurprising that my reflection3 would start centering on them.
So what is remembering? Is it the emotional ties that we keep to what’s now gone? Is it the intellectual knowledge of something now lost? Is it something else? I don’t really know, but I’m glad I at least had this to reflect on it for a bit.
First Published: 2022 November 7
It’s officially one week into NaNoWriMo1, and I’m currently doing well. I’ve managed to write at least my word goal every day, and I’m almost a full day ahead now. Since the last time I attempted it2, the website has changed a lot. It’s much more user friendly now, and it’s far more gamified as well.
There’s even an achievement for hitting par3 every day in the month, which has been my primary motivating factor. One thing I have noticed, though, is that the daily goal appears to update based on how many words you have left to 50000. I wonder if that means it’ll set itself to 0 when I surpass the goal.4
Huh, also apparently there’s more text in this document in the footnotes than in the actual text. I guess my asides are more content than I expected them to be. I
which I and an old FAQ pronounce /raj/, despite my friends assuring me it’s /ri/↩︎
in 2011↩︎
word goal for the day↩︎
currently scheduled for the 27th, but I’m also writing faster as the days go on, which is interesting. I can’t tell how much of that is due to increases in typing speeds, increases in knowing what I want to write, decreases in forced revision and pauses for words, or decreases in average word length. I’m sure there’s some way for me to track it, but I don’t really feel like testing any of it right now. All I know is my last 10 minute writing session was over 700 words, which is about as fast as I’ve scored on some typing tests.↩︎
First Published: 2022 November 6
Luke 20:27 “Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to him,”
Today’s readings strike home for me. Mostly to me, the readings focus on legalism.
The Maccabees could be accused of dying on behalf of legalism. After all, is the commandment not to eat pork really more important than the commandment to live? Similarly, in homilies I’ve heard, I’ve generally seen malice attributed to the Sadducees.
The framing is always them trying to trap Our Lord in some sort of a logical quandary. I guess I don’t see an issue with that. One thing that we know for certain about the Lord and His Promises is that they are consistent. If we can reach different answers from different1 starting facts, that is a legitimate concern about the faith.
And so, I choose to see the Sadducees as truly wondering. In the world view that they have, there is no way for this woman to be married to all seven men, but also no way to choose between them. That’s an obvious problem to the resurrection of the dead.
Our Lord’s response is incredibly stunning. Rather than rebuke them, He answers their questions in full. More than that, though, He answers the questions that they were trying to ask as well.
It really reminds me of how one person’s legalistic question is another’s genuine stumbling block to belief. I saw a post recently that said the incredible specificity with which all of our most dearly held beliefs have is a sign that there’s something wrong with the Church. I see it as the opposite: we know better and better what the true Truth is, because we know what is not it.
and true↩︎
First Published: 2022 November 3
First, apparently I never published my last writer’s block post, and instead linked to an older one. Wild.
Anyways, for whatever reason, I can’t think of what to blog about today. I’ve written over 2000 words of my novel, which is nice, and this is my last activity with my computer before I write my poem of the day.1 I guess I could talk about how those are going.
The novel is going interestingly, because it’s not something that I did even the slightest bit of planning about. More or less, the impetus for the novel was a few vignettes that I’d been thinking about, which had no temporal connection. As a result, writing them results in something very much the same.
In the poem, I wrote a meta-poem villanelle the first day and a sonnet the second. Today I’m going to try a free poem, but who knows how well that will go. Huh, just like that, I’m at over 150 words.
which I’ve taken to doing in my journal.↩︎
First Published: 2022 November 2
Today is the Feast of All Souls. There’s an indulgence attached to praying at a graveyard. A friend invited me to go pray at a graveyard with them, and it was really nice. Unfortunately, the rest of today was jam-packed with activities, so I haven’t really had time to sit and reflect here.
More accurately, I don’t have time.
First Published: 2022 November 1
Another month, another monthly reflection.
My goals were:1
Blog daily. Eventually this goal will happen.
Stretch daily. I’m going to stretch right after this, just so I make sure to do it.
Figure out how to repair/improve my accordion case. I made some notes today, and I think I should be able to get some of it done by the end of the month.
Write a poem every day. I did feel like the poems I wrote helped me ease into sleep, and they certainly help me write songs better.
Finish the newest song I’m working on.
Make progress on catching up for BiaY.
Fill in at least 3 more items on my 24 for 24.
How’d we do?
17/31 blogs. That’s more than half, so improvement.
I had about a week where I stretched, so that didn’t go horribly.
Turns out repair was as simple as taping it back together, so I gave up on that project.
I wrote a couple of poems, rough estimate of 12, so could do better.
I not only finished it, I’ve performed it!
Lots of progress, I’m now at day 232.
I added two new points, so I’m on schedule if not my goal
In the next month I’m going to try:
Blog every day. I believe in this month.
Stretch every day.
Write a poem every day. I’m doing a poem a day with some friends, so I’m accountable there.
Finish NaNoWriMo successfully
Make progress towards catching up on BiaY
At least two entries in 242.
Let’s see how we do!
Outside of my goals, I had a pretty good month. I’m making new friends and deepening existing relationships, which is always nice.
with commentary this time because I’m too lazy to fix it.↩︎
First Published: 2022 October 31
Last night went well! I ended up doing my two original songs and Stan Roger’s “Maid on the Shore,” because it’s a little bit spooky, which is good Halloween vibes. I had another person comment that the song seemed incredibly sad, and that I seemed sad while performing it, which is fun. It’s especially fun because they then commented on how not sad I seem otherwise.
I ended up staying later than normal, and played another set. That one was significantly less prepared, so I did two more Stan Rogers songs that I kind of know. It could have gone better but, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I realize I never actually figured out how to end them in playing, so it was awkward.
Tonight I’m playing at the open mic alone for the first time.1 I’m a little nervous, especially since I’m only like 60% sure what I want to play. But, hopefully I get home early enough tonight to relay my time.
I technically did it once or twice in undergrad, but I don’t really know if that counts.↩︎
First Published: 2022 October 31
Luke 19:6 “And he came down quickly and received him with joy.”
I appreciate how last week we heard about the tax collector who knew he was a sinful man, and this week we hear about Zacchaeus, a tax collector, who is called to the faith. Something that stuck out to me in particular is his line “if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” In the homily I listened to, the priest mentioned that he absolutely extorted, which is likely where the other half of his wealth would go.
I, on the other hand, took Zacchaeus at his word. One recurring message these past weeks is the contrast between perceived holiness and actual holiness. “Of course Zacchaeus extorted”, we and the people at the time would say. And yet, what if he didn’t?
Too often I find myself judging, making wild extrapolations from minimal data. To me, at least, yesterday’s Gospel called us to reflect on why we assume the worst from those who we barely know.