Lists of Knowledge and Glory

There are many things from childhood/ young adult hood that I got wrong. I can no longer agree with these sentiments of yore:

1) That They Might Be Giants are a great band. They have some good songs.
2) That the Sandman is a great comic. It’s okay
3) That the adjectives of “underground, alternative, independent” conveyed some sort of worth on a subject.
4) That I was unique in my “well thought out” youthful rebellions.
5) Activism was admirable
6) Physicalism was a valid philosophy


Some things I was right about:
1) That Elvis Costello, and the Clash are great.
2) That Geometry is great.
3) Joining the I.D.F
4) That Cerebus is great
5) “Bust a Move” is a cool song
6) My Heroes. All my youthful heroes remain my heroes.

True Things I learned from friends that I would never of discovered on my own:
1) David Bowie and New Order are good
2) John Zorn, Mr. Bungle, Faith no More are good.
3) Comics are great
4) Basketball is fun
5) Beer is good
6) Despite tremendous evidence to the contrary, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen do not eat ass (thanks Juan and Rich)

Things I learned from the Army that I might not have learned otherwise:
1) There is no correlation between the worth of person and their professed beliefs
2) Hobbes was right.
3) Civility prevents murder
4) Life is short, meaningless, and great.
5) Everyone dies.
6) There are people who will take bullets for a random stranger. And there are people who will fire bullets at a random stranger. They are often the same people.
7) There is no such thing as the good guys. But there are such things as friends and enemies. The enemy is the one who wishes you or the goals and projects that you value, ill. Enemies, like friends, vary in degrees and permanence.