I can't believe scientist know about things that are 23 million light years away.
Yeah, that's pretty far.
I can scarcely comprehend one light year. I mean it's light! It's so fast!
It is pretty fast. I think the universe is like 25 billion light years long…or wide…or whatever.
Are you…? Are you serious?
Yeah.
And we're the only planet with life?
Yep.
Wow. I mean, seriously, wow.
Yeah.
No other planets out there playing in bands or watching baseball or eating bar-b-que?
That's it?
What?
Those are the three things that encapsulate life to you?
Well, no, they're just the first three things that came to my mind.
Sure.
What would you say if you had to name three?
I don't know. Speaking and…reading and writing and…engaging in some form of reproduction, I guess.
That's four.
Reading and writing count as one.
Why?
Because they're representing the singular concept of "literacy."
You could've said, "Being literate."
Does that really make sense?
Sure.
No, it doesn't.
Well, I don't remember the last time I saw you reading a newspaper or writing a letter.
Hey, I read the paper, okay? Just because I leave to work before you even wake up doesn't mean I don't read the paper.
Easy, friend.
Don't "easy" me. What about you? You don't read or write, do you?
Are you kidding? When would I have time to read? It takes me five hours to climb down the tree.
Okay. You're right.
What about God?
What about God?
I wonder if having a belief if God should be on the list?
But not everyone believes in God. It's not inherent to life.
Sure it is. They just might not know it.
First of all, I have no idea what you mean by that. Second, you can't go assigning people to believe in God. A lot of people believe in God or Gods or some form of supreme being but that's their choice. Some people don't and that's their choice.
So maybe we should say, "The ability to allow people to believe what they want to believe."
Yeah, if only that were true.
What?
Do you watch the news?
Sure.
The bombings? The murder? The genocide? The hate? The general fighting all across the globe?
Okay?
There sure seems to be a lot of not-allowing people to believe what they want to believe.
Yeah but we have laws and stuff to protect our rights.
Oh, okay.
What?
Nothing.
You can't do that. What?!
Nothing.
What about OJ, huh? Man it's like we're in a time warp. OJ's in jail—a Clinton is running for President. What year is it, right?
