By Way Of Introduction

Welcome to Stolen Lantern. The title comes from a quote by Edgar A. Shoaff who was riffing off the famous story of Diogenes' search for an honest man. The full quote is "a cynic is a person searching for an honest man with a stolen lantern."  You'll find it in a collection of quotes put together by Dr. Lawrence Peter (the Peter Principle guy) titled Peter's Quotations: Ideas For Our Time. Shoaff himself was apparently an author of small repute who died in 1993.

I like statements like that. You enter into the writer's thought with an "I got this," and soon you find yourself deep in a maze of possibilities. The cynic is dishonest, yet seeks honesty. Why? What is the relationship between truth and cynicism? What is the attraction? Soon a simple aphorism becomes a koan of sorts, reminding us that the more we think we know, the less we actually know, and doubt rather than certainty is our boon companion as we shuffle about this mortal coil.

So, making a virtue of necessity I plan to explore uncertainty, because if you don't know where you're going at least you can enjoy the trip. Reader(s) coming over from Ironicus will find this blog a little more focused and a little less irreverent. By focus I mean most posts will probably deal with two central issues: education and animal rights, both abiding themes in my life, and by less irreverent I mean not so much pointing and laughing and a little more explaining and suggesting.

I plan to keep Ironicus active for a while for when I feel the need to point and laugh, because sometimes when confronted with the cold, heartless depth of cruelty that is greyhound racing, or the arrogant ignorance of some of my fellow citizens, that's all I can do, and all they deserve.

Once again, welcome. As you can see the blog is still under construction. Join up if you wish, tell your friends, or warn your friends, or scratch your head and say, I just don't know.