I would like to submit a proposal to the membership

[Father Bill]

Steve,

Unlike my friend Jock, I rather like and sense the meaning of "iconic," but that's the problem. It's a word whose meaning we judge and you and I come from very different perspectives.

As an engineer you have learned to measure, quantify, define, and categorize... pretty well everything. I come from a very different perspective. Thirty-two years as a teacher taught me that despite the wishes of certain right-wing think tanks, it's childish and impossible to measure the value of a child's idea. A good idea? The phrase you hate is part of that since teaching is an art, not a science: "I know it when I see it."

I believe that the preparation, selection, and application of clothing in our wardrobe is also an art, not a science. What makes me look good in the morning? "I know it when I see it." So does my beautiful wife who critiques me from time to time. To tread on very thin ice, what makes her beautiful? "I know it because I feel it!"

I am quite content with the proposed categories that are emerging. I'm also quite content with the categories that have been used since before I joined X-Marks. The problem is that there are some things that cannot, and probably should not be defined. How does one define love? ...happiness? ...beauty? "I know it when I see/feel it," and that's okay with me.

To measure the value of a child's learning? A poorly defined mug's game. (Not MUG.) To take a chance on this neutral website, but in my current calling, how does one define God? Not only impossible but possibly dangerous, and not a discussion we should ever undertake here!

Today marks 100 years to the day that Lt. Harry Colebourn, a Canadian veterinarian and soldier with the Royal Canadian Army Veterinary Corps, came across an orphaned bear cub which he purchased and took with him when he went overseas. That bear which he named "Winnipeg" for his home town became the mascot of Colebourn's unit, and when they shipped overseas, he donated the bear, now named "Winnie" to the London zoo where she (yes she was female) inspired A.A. Milne to write the "iconic" Winnie the Pooh stories.

I end my gentle rant with a quote from Milne's books: Piglet: “How do you spell 'love'?" Pooh: "You don't spell it...you feel it."

Some things like love are okay if they aren't measured, defined, or quantified. I just want lots of it.

Bill+