Sunny and zero degrees F outside.  You’d think that on such a chill winter’s day the warm-blooded would be conserving energy, hibernating, or ensconced in a safe habitat.

And we should call every truth false that is not accompanied by at least one laugh.

–excerpt Thus Spoke Zarathustra, pt. 1, Reading and Writing, By Friedrich Nietzsche

How could I not be a fan of all of this, the warmth of this Starbucks room, the hot cup of coffee placed in my hand morning by morning?  “Behind the curtain” is a corporation, an institution organizing the contribution of thousands of my fellows, in countries around the world.  Indeed the joint effort extends back to 1971, Pike Place market in Seattle, Washington.  That is when the first store opened.

Shouldn’t I be reminded that nothing about my current surroundings was or is inevitable?  Never mind the appearance, how things seem to be.  A few things might have been otherwise, even minuscule things, and the umbrella of the Starbucks company, providing a livelihood for many would never have been.  A good idea has no guarantee, many are still-born…

Yes, laughter is a reasonable response, a proportionate and wry recognition of delight and of sad recognition…  All that we hold to be true, reliable, of excellent order, copacetic with our needs, with our preferences is temporary.

And I think such is all the more so with respect to liberal democracy, the idea that everyone’s voice merits equal weight.  Consider related ideas that cluster around this concept:  freedom means doing whatever you desire, property is private, say or publish anything at all, commerce must be unfettered, etc..

So, go ahead and chuckle, or laugh out loud.

“The foundations float–a lasting miracle of creation.”

Is that hard to swallow?