Dilemma 4/30/09

Self-knowledge
is a dangerous thing
and can't be granted
by a single vision.

--Craig Erick Chaffin


You have the magical power to stop one and only one of the following two scenarios. Which would you prevent?

1. You are able to see disasters that will happen in the future, but you cannot do anything that will change the outcomes.
2. You have realistic dreams, some of which predict the future, but you never know until after events unfold which dreams are predictive.

Dilemma 4/29/09

So early it's still almost dark out.
I'm near the window with coffee,
and the usual early morning stuff
that passes for thought.

--Raymond Carver


You have the magical power to stop one and only one of the following two scenarios. Which would you prevent?

1. Coffee plants die out.
2. The government bans soft drinks for health reasons.

Dilemma 4/28/09

And when the eve is born,
In the blue lake the sky, o'er-reaching far,
Is hollowed out and the moon dips her horn,
And twinkles many a star.

--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


You have the magical power to stop one and only one of the following two scenarios. Which would you prevent?

1. The sky becomes completely and permanently covered by clouds.
2. Most of the trees on Earth die for an unknown reason.

Dilemma 4/27/09

. . . . Looking for
signs to quiet fear, I creep
closer to his bed and hear
his breath come and go, holding
my own as if my own were
all I paid. Nothing I bring,
say, or do has meaning here.

--Philip Levine


You have the magical power to stop one and only one of the following two scenarios. Which would you prevent?

1. A very contagious flu affects most of the people in your neighborhood.
2. A very contagious flu affects most of the people in another country.

Dilemma 4/26/09

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--
And then run?

--Langston Hughes


You have the magical power to stop one and only one of the following two scenarios. Which would you prevent?

1. You know for certain that you will never achieve any of your dreams.
2. You know for certain that someone you love dearly will never achieve any of his or her dreams.

Dilemma 4/25/09

Imagine if your precious nose
were sandwiched in between your toes,
that clearly would not be a treat,
for you'd be forced to smell your feet.

--Jack Prelutsky


You have the magical power to stop one and only one of the following two scenarios. Which would you prevent?

1. Your sense of smell becomes so sensitive that everything that has a smell bothers you.
2. Your sense of hearing becomes so sensitive that every sound you hear bothers you.

Dilemma 4/24/09

Changed? Yes, I will confess it – I have changed.
I do not love you in the old fond way.

--Ella Wheeler Wilcox


You have the magical power to stop one and only one of the following two scenarios. Which would you prevent?

1. The entire world population suddenly becomes female.
2. The only babies born in the world are male.