H.G. Wells threw out some zingers. "Today's crisis is tomorrow's joke." "Nothing leads to futility as literary ambitions without systemic knowledge." "Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo." "History is a race between catastrophe and education."
And then I think and look this up:
The adjective systematic means (1) carried out using step-by-step procedures, or (2) of, characterized, or constituting a system. It typically describes carefully planned processes that unfold gradually. Systemic, which is narrower in definition, means systemwide or deeply engrained in the system. It usually describes habits or processes that are difficult to reverse because they are built into a system.
There is some gray area between the words. When there is doubt, it’s usually safer to go with systematic, which is older and more broadly defined.
So, there you go, feel free to substitute as necessary. Last night I was listening to one of my favorite radio shows while on the way to the banya for a schvitz I was hoping would cure me of some impending illness I've been harboring. Nothing like the subtle machinations of water and air teaming together to do the job. However you read that sentence it is something to think about. The other day President Obama said something about the loss of opportunity as the great challenge of our century. It had something to do with class struggle, education and some hazy idea of the American directive. Maybe, I think. But I don't think it's the great challenge. No, our great challenge brings us back to that banya, H.G. Wells and that video post from the other day with that Patagonia guy; just getting ourselves to survive the century in the first place.
Give yourself a moment to listen to this.
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