The sun. People are apt to complain that it's too sunny or not sunny enough and yet, there it is all the time, making our lives possible.

Frankly, lots of things amaze me (and I don't smoke pot anymore!). lil and I had a discussion about parenthood a while back and particularly motherhood. The fact that we are a social species provides us with amazing opportunities for interaction, sharing ideas (like on hubski!) and for gaining perspective and insight from others who have lived vastly different lives.

The sheer amount of complexity and interrelated systems that allow contemporary life to exist is frankly, unimaginable for most people. The fact that we are animals that consciously alter our behavior such that we have asphalt, chewing gum and breakup texts means that tremendous efforts on the parts of countless individuals have contributed to something as banal as a neglected city street is far more evidence of our inability to appreciate the world around us as much as we maybe should.

I mean, shit . . . that we live lives bound by law is amazing. There is very little stopping any of us from arming ourselves and raiding our neighbors, except for rules we have collectively decided to be worth obeying. As an animal, I recognize that I can easily deprive others of resources for my own benefit but as a social animal, as a human animal, I understand that my behavior would provoke adverse reactions in others and because I can understand theoretical situations, I can posit that the cost of those actions is not worth what I might gain.

Personally, I feel like people don't think of the complexity of the human or "natural" world because doing so would force us to understand fully how tenuous it all is. Faith that these systems will continue to function are what allows us to participate in them with confidence. If I didn't think the sun would rise tomorrow or ever again, then why the fuck would I care about laws or anything designed to modulate my behavior?