I am constantly amazed.\u00a0 Not only that.\u00a0 I seem to be constantly amazed at things that happen … well …\u00a0 constantly.\u00a0 You’d think that seeing something over and over and over would eventually wear you down and erode wonder, awe and amazement.\u00a0 Not for simple minded people like me.\u00a0 I sit back and watch people do the same silly thing over and over.\u00a0 And I say to myself, “wow!” … “that is amazing!”<\/p>\n
What the heck am I talking about?<\/p>\n
It is the audacious certainty with which people predict the future.<\/p>\n
![\"toy2r-emilio-garcia-jumping-brain-toy\"](\"http:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/toy2r-emilio-garcia-jumping-brain-toy.jpg\" "\\"toy2r-emilio-garcia-jumping-brain-toy\\"")
And I’m not talking the simple stuff.\u00a0 Things like, “if you don’t brush your teeth will rot.”\u00a0 Or, “if you constantly lie eventually people won’t trust you.”\u00a0 Or, “if you’re disciplined and sacrifice today you can reap the benefits tomorrow.”\u00a0 That is the simple stuff … the natural and predictable consequences to simple actions.<\/p>\n
No, I’m talking about situations that are hopelessly complex, that have multivariate and fast changing events, that computers the size of Big Blue could never figure out.<\/p>\n
But here we are with our little 3 lb brains<\/a><\/strong> and not only have we figured it all out (and well into the next decade no less!) … but we do so with\u00a0 absolute, unapologetic and unqualified certainty<\/strong>.<\/p>\n This is more than just the “half full vs. half empty” syndrome.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is not a question of style, character, or even slant.\u00a0 It is the ability of people to see the same data, the same information, the same images, the same facts and draw opposite conclusions with the certainty of the sun coming up tomorrow.<\/p>\n Welcome to the health care debate.<\/p>\n The Wall Street Journal says that health care reform is leading to the “wholesale destruction of wealth and capital<\/strong><\/a>.”\u00a0 The White House says it simply is closing a loophole<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 According to one Congressman <\/strong><\/a>the health care reform will lead to more aborted babies.\u00a0 According to Bart Stupak<\/strong><\/a> nothing changes.\u00a0 According to columnist and commentator Fred Hiatt<\/strong><\/a> health care reform is a ‘fiscal catastrophe.’\u00a0 According to a former official of the Congressional\u00a0 Budget Office, Mr. DeWater<\/strong><\/a>, it will reduce the deficit.<\/p>\n No wonder the media reports that the average American is confused.\u00a0 The so-called ‘experts’ are not only disagreeing.\u00a0 They are violently disagreeing with even more violent confidence and conviction.<\/p>\n I suspect that the average American isn’t as much confused as he or she is simply recognizing the simple fact that all the “experts” ignore.\u00a0 We just don’t know exactly what is going to happen.\u00a0 There’s some good.\u00a0 There’s some bad.\u00a0 There’s some risk.\u00a0 There’s some opportunity.<\/p>\n But we just don’t know.\u00a0 None of us do.<\/p>\n In many ways the health care reform package is a lot like life.\u00a0 It is hard to know what the future holds.<\/p>\n So what do you do?\u00a0 You go back to those simple, historically proven, reliable things you can depend on.<\/p>\n Like brushing (and flossing!) so your teeth don’t rot.\u00a0 And telling the truth so you can earn someone’s trust and confidence.\u00a0 And working hard and sacrificing today so you and your family can benefit some day down the road.<\/p>\n As for the other stuff, it would be refreshing if someone said what everyone else has already figured out:<\/p>\n “Who knows?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am constantly amazed.\u00a0 Not only that.\u00a0 I seem to be constantly amazed at things that happen … well …\u00a0 constantly.\u00a0 You’d think that seeing something over and over and over would eventually wear you down and erode wonder, awe and amazement.\u00a0 Not for simple minded people like me.\u00a0 I sit back and watch people…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[28,1],"tags":[10,155,6,156],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=537"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":541,"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537\/revisions\/541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n