The Hobgoblin of Little Minds

What is that saying? ____is the hobgoblin of little minds? Let me google it and report back to you............Ok back. The quote is foolish consistency by Ralph Waldo Emerson. I was thinking about a title for today's mental outpouring and I thought about consistency in going to the gym and sticking to a plan, being consistent and that saying popped in my head.



Let's look at what it means. The rest of the quote says "adored by little statesman and philosophers and divines. Here is the story to illustrate the meaning (btw doesn't the term "little statesman" automatically invoke monkey man President George H W Bush).

For their first Thanksgiving, a loving wife cooks a ham for her husband. He notices that the ends of the ham are cut off. He asks why she cut off the ends and she says "I don't know that's the way my mother always did it". So the husband asks the mother-in-law and she says the same thing. So he calls the grandmother and she says "I had a small oven". His wife and mother-in-law were being consistent but without a reason other than tradition and repetition.



I loathe to bring up politics but the abortion issue is a prime example of "foolish consistency". Fundamentalist Christians believe that every human life has a predetermined destiny set forth by the big guy himself. An abortion interupts the divine plan of predestination and is therefore opposed. No woman should be allowed to interfere with divine predestination even in cases of rape or incest. A foolish consistency and Emerson knew this when he mentions "divines".



Wow! so off topic. Let's bring it back to me and my trips to the gym. Going to the gym everyday is consistent but going without a plan is foolish. Therefore, abortion should be legal. Huh?



Anyway, the good: ran a mile on the treadmill in 16 mins (yeah), lifted weights and other stuff (yeah), drank more water than ever in my life (yeah). The not so good - had a big cinammon roll for breakfast (boo).



Also, the day I didn't blog - I walked to work - and then walked home. A total of 4.4 miles. Wow! Awesome! Random word association with "Wow!" Here it comes -- School House Rock-



When Reginald was home with flu, uh-huh-huh,The doctor knew just what to do-hoo.

He cured the infectionWith one small injectionWhile Reginald uttered some interjections..
Hey! That smarts!Ouch! That hurts!Yow! That's not fair givin' a guy a shot down there!
Interjections (Hey!) show excitement (Yow!) or emotion (Ouch!).

They're generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point,Or by a comma when the feeling's not as strong.
Though Geraldine played hard to get, uh-huh-huh

Geraldo knew he'd woo her yet

He showed his affection

Despite her objections

And Geraldine hollered some interjections...
Well! You've got some nerve!Oh! I've never been so insulted in all my life!Hey! You're kinda cute!
Interjections (Well!) show excitement (Oh!) or emotion (Hey!).They're generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point,Or by a comma when the feeling's not as strong.
So when you're happy (Hurray!) or sad (Aw!)Or frightened (Eeeeeek!) or mad (Rats!)Or excited (Wow!) or glad (Hey!)An interjection starts a sentence right.
The game was tied at seven all, uh-huh-huh,When Franklin found he had the ba-hall.He made a connectionIn the other direction,And the crowd starting shouting out interjections...
Aw! You threw the wrong way!Darn! You just lost the game!Hurray! I'm for the other team!
Interjections (Aw!) show excitement (Darn!) or emotion (Hurray!).They're generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point,Or by a comma when the feeling's not as strong.
So when you're happy (Hurray!) or sad (Aw!)Or frightened (Eeeeeek!) or mad (Rats!)Or excited (Wow!) or glad (Hey!)An interjection starts a sentence right.
Interjections (Hey!) show excitement (Hey!) or emotion (Hey!).They're generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point,Or by a comma when the feeling's not as strong.
Interjections show excitement or emotion,Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah... YEA!
Darn! That's the end!