In the early books of the Bible, are all of the 'begat' passages, where the reader learns about so-and-so begetting (my word) so-and-so..... and so on and so on, etc. Or, as Yul Brenner said so eloquently in "The King and I", "et cetera, et cetera, et cetera". At best, it is dull reading, but it is purposeful in that it sets up a historical setting so that as one reads on, you have a sense of familial lines. As with many important, factual bits of information, although it is as interesting as watching paint dry, it sets up a vital, foundational framework from which to comprehend later history.
Yes, I will tie the first paragraph of this posting to subsequent paragraphs.
This has been a week of lists. As regular readers may recall, I am a lover of lists. They keep me functioning, somewhat organized and help me override any memory glitches I may experience. I simply would not operated very efficiently without creating lists from which to work.
However........what I have observed about lists is that one list begets another, which begets another and so on and so on and so forth. I can begin a list, for example, about daily tasks that I need to accomplish and while I am in the process of compiling that list, I will realize that a parallel list needs to be created for additional items needed to perform the tasks on List No. 1.....BUT as List No. 2 is being penned, I will realize another list may need to be created dealing with pre-tasks to be done before List No. 1 can be started. Making lists is akin to outlining one's family tree. All of the relatives must be identified before I can write down my own name.
Furthermore, list-life is not static, but, rather, a work in progress. I can arrange tasks in what I believe is an intelligent order of operation, then discover that I've left out one, which then requires a re-writing of the entire list. List-making is a curse, I'm certain.
Whew! I've just worn myself out just thinking about lists and I haven't even tackled my list for today. Does thinking about a list count? If I've thought about all I want to accomplish, but have not put pencil to paper, am I absolved from the actual 'action' of the list?
Please say 'yes'. In fact, I'll poll a number of people until I get the answer I am looking for. Isn't that what government statisticians do?
I'm on to my next list of people to poll.
Ancora imparo
