Seeing over the horizon...and living in the moment...

I'm so exhausted after a long night of work and not enough sleep, yesterday...

I was going to post on the depths of pettiness that I never imagined in the human psyche...especially the pettiness rationalized by all of us, not just some random member of humanity...

But I decided...instead...that I just wanted to appreciate this moment in my life...

A moment when I am quite confident that I have hit upon something very important and innovative...for the fields of policy...and psychology...and other relevant social science fields...

Economics...international policy...education...history...military history...sociology...anthropology and cultural studies...criminology...law...even some implications for physical science fields like chemistry, physics, biology, etc., I think, as well...or at least important explorations...

Anywhere where people are involved:)...

After reading some psychohistory, recently, posted by a friend on a chatboard...I am quite confident, now, that these principles are important, constructive advancements in our humanity...not just in our study of our humanity:):):)...

And I just feel like looking at the horizon:):):)...

And enjoying the view:):):)...

Because it's an exciting view:):):)...the future of humanity, that is:):):)...

And who would have ever thought that I'd be doing it from the inside of a garage door shipping dock:):):):):):):)...

I love it:):):)...life is so uncertain and unpredictable and crazy and wonderful sometimes:):):):):)...all the time:):):)...and I love it:):):)...

Bill Bradley tells this really great story of his shy, reserved, very decent, disabled Republican father...a man whose great pride in life as a banker was that he did not foreclose on one person's home during the Depression:):):)...sitting on the front porch of their home...drinking a Budweiser (the Bradley family is originally from Missouri...so nothing else would do, as Bill tells the story:):):)...

Just looking over the twilight...looking over life:):):)...

If I had a Budweiser right now:):):):) (we just drank the last of our Samuel Adams White Ale, that just went out of season...so I got a seasonal beer on sale:):):)...it doesn't get any better than that:):):)...

If I had a beer, right now:):):)...

That's exactly what I would do, right now:):):)...

At 29...some special education graduate student from Wichita, Kansas...cracked something that noone else has cracked...as far as I know, that is:):):)...

Something so deeply profound for the course of humanity...

...that I just feel exhausted and humbled by the whole thing, right now:):):)...

I can't really describe the feeling...

Just humbled...

Big thanks go to so many people who've really supported my efforts along the way...Tom Skrtic, of course, who supported my studies and nurtured my intellect in grad school...even if neither turned out the way that he had imagined:):)...and my parents:):):)...Chuck Sutherland...who raised 5 kids as a single dad...and taught me what it looks like to strive to be a great dad all along the way...and Marilyn Kodish...a relatively recent and critically important addition to my family...who supported me, emotionally, through so much insanity of the last 6 years or so...and who've both supported me, emotionally as much as anything else, in ways that I definitely do not take for granted these days:):):)...

But especially Brandi Fisher:):):)...who's love and commitment made so much of this work possible...with her example...her generosity...her decency...her love...her patience...her idealism...

Thanks, Brandi...for being my best teacher...now and always:):):)...

Now the challenge is applying these principles -- theoretically and practically -- in all those areas of life where they can make a far better world, I think:):):)...

I'm going to go get some sleep, everyone:):):)...have a beautiful day:):):)...

Love,
Ben