Introductions have been discontinued due to lack of interest.

Philosophical time.

Each of us has our own individual "world view". This view ranges from the macro to the micro. We have opinions concerning everything from communism vs. capitalism to whether men can wear pink without being considered feminine.

It occurred to me the other day that this world view that we have can be shaken rather severely, turned upside-down or sideways. And that this usually occurs because of a single incident, a moment of clarity, a random thought that blossoms into a new philosophy. At least, it CAN happen that way.

There was a time when I have my hopes, dreams, ambitions. In my early forties I came to the realization that these were not to be. I also realized that it was necessary to do more than just have these hopes, dreams, ambitions. You have to take actions to make them happen. And that they each have a cost. A cost I hadn't been willing to pay.

It was a moment of clarity. And it took quite a while to integrate this new view of the world (or at least one small part of my share of the world) into my philosophy. To come to grips with the fact that you can be anything you want to be, if only you're willing to pay the price. And that I wasn't.

Other changes have occurred to my "world view". As a matter of fact, I realized that they come all the time. But as one gets older they come less often, with more difficulty. And I suppose that's what they mean when they say that older people are "set in their ways."

What set all this reflection off was watching the end of the third year of the TV series "The Wire". I came to realize a number of things. One, that whether you taling about a gang selling drugs, a developer created a new community, or the election of a mayor, that the same principles are being exercised.

There are ways of doing business and inevitably they include "dark" elements. Elements like betrayal, revenge, con-games, manipulation, etc. All human activities involve both the "enlightened" element AND the "dark" ones.

Two, that one can work as hard as one wishes in achieving an end and still have it pulled out of one's grasp with little fanfare. It might be lost by the machinations of another individual or by pure chance. Either way, all that work was for nothing.

And third, that there are many "problems" that can never be "solved". That they are not so much problems as aspects of human nature, perhaps of nature itself. The drug war cannot be won because there is no finite enemy to defeat. The same with the war on Terrorism.

Prostitution will always exist because sex will always exist. Drugs, of one form or another, will always be around as long as there's a person seeking escape and a profit to be made from supplying it. The items and activities we use in our "sins" will continue no matter how many "sin taxes" or "sin laws" we pass.

For we are sinful creatures. Sin is our animal instinct. Given all this, I realized that we can make changes in the way in which we handle such "problems", with varying degrees of change in some aspects of the business. But to attack the "problem" completely, we must go against our basic nature. Which seldom happens.

I gotten to the point in my life where I'm going to leave the crusades against or for whatever might be popular to be for or against to the younger people. I'm just don't have the physical or mental energy anymore.

So my latest change in "world view" is to realize that it doesn't matter that I don't really have the control over much in this world, that it's all the same regardless of what we talking about, that changes have good and bad elements, that much that needs change is just human nature.

And my big conclusion? That this is all OK. That all I can do is what I can do.

See you another time.