Sandals and a Stick: Nerve Ending Variances

I think it’s been a while since I’ve traveled a little bit off the rails with my thoughts of the week. I figured I’d treat you once again to the strange and twisted but normally hidden landscape of my thinking brain. Wishing to keep comments to a minimum, I thought I’d also let you see the results of a Frank Gehry architectural design called the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. I am just making a point that I am not the only twisted thing out there. And when it comes down to it, the building looks awesomely cool. Maybe my brain does too.

Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas. Designed by Frank Gehry

Earlier this year (Millimeters Matter) I talked about the tiny adjustments that are necessary to set my shower to a tolerable temperature.

The process looks something like this.

Turn on the water.
Place right arm into the stream.
Adjust.
Please right arm and sometimes left into the stream.
Adjust.
Place right leg into the flow, adjust again.

I have noticed that what I thought was a good temperature measured with arms and legs, has a completely different sensation with full-body exposure.

So why is it that my tests did not reveal a comfortable thermal reading? Well, I started the research and quit after just moments. I really don’t care.

It is intriguing is that it happens at all, however!

Revisions: Sunday, February 27

I typically write over several days. There is always fine-tuning to do on Sunday but today, it's a little bit more than that. This article WAS headed in a completely different direction. To explain this, I will point you to the news, specifically Ukraine.

Maybe it's because I know people from Ukraine.

Maybe it's because I started thinking about what it would be like for me - were I a citizen of that besieged country living in well, maybe Kharkiv - Cincinnati's sister city.

This article did a turnabout because having experienced a wide variance of temperatures from the delicately adjusted shower on different parts of my body, I began to wonder if our reactions to most things might not follow similar trends.

We've become exposed to so very much in our culture. We are immersed in advertisements at a daily rate that exceeds understanding. The news of the world inhabits every waking moment. We are vulnerable to the opinions of others in all types of venues. We are tasked with finding truth-over-agenda on a scale never imagined by our ancestors - or even by our elders.

Do we trust the 'temperature of our own opinions' based on the arms and legs of our 'minds' without becoming fully immersed in the search to obtain valuable and compassionate responses?

Have we become immune to certain temperatures as we refuse to expose ourselves to the pain of others? If so, could this be true because we've made the choice to live in silos with those who are like us - and only those who are like us?

I have no answers to these questions. At the same time, I think it important to keep these inquiries in front of conscious thought. And although none of us can solve the world's problems, we can help one person at a time.

Today, I think I'll try to do that for someone in Ukraine. Maybe you'll join me.