Ah, April--a good month as far as months go, and as an added bonus, this happens to be the shortest month, entry-wise, since I didn't start this until midway through.

Hegel said that we learn from history that we do not learn from history.  I agree and disagree.  Certain societies see the lessons from the past and grow, but they are eventually subsumed by the vast sea of the ignorant.  So, for a few brief centuries each epoch, some civilizations rise above the choking weeds, and, grasping for the light of truth, blooms into a flower of humanity that soon withers and dies.  (I realize there are several statements that need to be expounded upon, but this is a heavily condensed version of a portion of my philosophy of history.)  (And, yes, I really should be studying for finals.)

Sunday, April 25, 1999

Home.  You know--that place where your heart is, where you get renewed and refreshed, where you can let your hair down, where everyone loves you, where your mother dwells.

--Mom

Friday, April 23, 1999

As you no doubt expected, I finished my brief three minutes before the deadline.  Oh well.  I've had 6 hours of sleep in the past 65 hours; it's midnight, so I'm going to bed now.  Nighty-night.

Wednesday, April 21, 1999

Well, it's around 3:00am (technically Thursday morning), and my contacts are so thick I can barely close my eyelids over them.  Russ and I are working on our brief due Friday--we are engaged in a monumental undertaking:  we are attempting to actually finish the brief by Thursday, a whole day early!  You all know that the chances of me actually completing a paper even an hour in advance of the deadline causes a few eyebrows to raise, so imagine, if you will, the near miraculous event that just might occur.  We are truly living in exciting times.

I think that maybe I shouldn't have started this new Matt-has-to-update-his-page-on-a-regular-basis thing just yet, since I have a brief due this Friday and a project due the 29th.  But too late now.  (Yes, that's my bit for today.  Hey--I never said they'd all be thought provoking, profound, and insightful.)

  Monday, April 19, 1999

In the same vein, travel is an important instrument of change.  Travel, especially foreign travel, exposes you to so much that is new and different--that is, if you get into the local culture instead of hiding in tourist locales the entire time.  (This is not an indictment of any of my friends--I'm thinking primarily of resorts that are common in South America that are actually walled off from the rest of the country, so that the only locals (non whites) you ever meet are maids or busboys.)  You learn and grow the most when you travel by yourself in a country where you do not speak the language, but, in general, I'd have to say that pretty much all travel is beneficial.
 

Sunday, April 18, 1999

Change. It is what keeps us young and flexible.
Without change, we slip into routine patterns of
behavior and thought.  Confronting different
perspectives and problems forces us to
reevaluate our own beliefs and ways of doing
things.  We cannot grow if we do not change.

Yes, this where it stops.  Prior to Sunday, April 18, 1999, I had my war page up, which astute readers know is now linked from the soldier's head on the index.

Really.  This is the end.  You can log off now.

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