I had forgotten all about E-Prime, thanks for reminding me about it! And now I have to rewrite the paragraph above:

I don’t think I’ve missed the point (and in fact an early draft of this post did contain a bit about codependence), but I do see yours, and I should have made myself clearer: I directed my post at those who do misinterpret the expression the way you thought I did. (And I believe that many do.)

</eprime>

Perhaps the two formulations of the expression in this post should be synthesized like so: “Bring happiness to others, but not at the expense of your own.” Or in more modern terms, “Place the oxygen mask of happiness over your own mouth and nose first, then assist others around you.”

It is fine to be a guide, to help a friend or lover discover how to allow themself to accept happiness. And once they’ve done that, it is a noble pursuit to bring into their lives the things that make them smile. And you, Bob, have that in spades, make everyone around you smile. Doing things for others is the best way to defeat the ego.

But, “Everyone is responsible for each other’s happiness” is a recipe for codependent behavior which is ultimately destructive. ‘everyone’s responsible for their own happiness.’ arose out of the ashes of battered wives sacrificing their own lives for their alcoholic and abusive spouses. I believe you’ve misinterpreted the expression as, “Everyone should focus on their own happiness to the exclusion of others.”

Remember E-prime?

i spent the entire month of january being the picture of perfect health and fitness (in preparation for my punta cana trip). it took me 30 days of serious hardcore work to take off 18 pounds and just 7 days on vacation to put back 5.

sorry, brother, but i fear you have old age and our mom to thank for the increasing difficulty with weight loss.

Unfortunately it had little effect And to add insult to injury, when we went to Australia at Christmas, Catherine’s mother and brother both independently exclaimed, “Hey, have you lost weight??” To HER! I was indignant. After the wedding (T-minus 19 days…) I’m going to get back on the wagon and keep at it. Don’t give up!

My one other suggestion is to vary your workouts if you aren’t already. I need to do this more myself, but as I understand it, if you just do the same type of exercise for a long time, your body gets used to it and you get less of a benefit from it. If you can mix it up (row one day, bike another day, lift weights a different day, or even just try different versions of the same exercise) you’ll burn more calories. So I’m told.

You can also take a look at the replies I got to this Ask Metafilter question from some time ago: http://ask.metafilter.com/95342/Im-not-fat-Im-husky

In a spooky coincidence, last night I dreamed that you edged me out in a footrace. Hmm!

For one thing, you have committed an ironic error in logic. You appear to equate a mistake in one’s “very first point” with mistakes in the other points that follow. In fact each point in an argument can be true or false independently of the others. The ironic part is that your points are all independently erroneous.

You find fault with my citing of large numbers to prove greatness. But I find fault with your finding of any such citation. None exists in this article.

You misread my complaint about the first line of dialogue, saying “luke calling han by his name doesn’t even remotely qualify” (as “breaking the fourth wall”). A closer reading would have revealed that it’s not Luke’s use of Han’s name but his addition of “old buddy” that I found telling.

As to your main point, the meaning of “breaking the fourth wall,” the very reference you supply makes clear that a fictional character addressing the audience directly is merely one example of breaking the fourth wall:

The term also applies to the boundary between any fictional setting and its audience. When this boundary is “broken” (for example by an actor speaking to the audience directly through the camera in a television program or film), it is called “breaking the fourth wall.”

(Emphasis added.) By implication, there are other ways. This is made more explicit by the definition of breaking the fourth wall that I linked to (indirectly, via an intermediate blog post), from Word Spy:

When a fictional character shows awareness of both the medium in which they “exist” and the audience watching (or reading) that medium.

“Shows awareness.” I wrote that Luke speaks a particular line in a particular way that a normal person in a normal setting never would. The only explanation I can concoct for Empire’s odd first line of dialogue — and I’m open to other suggestions that aren’t ad hominem attacks or other logical fallacies — is that Luke is aware of Han’s long absence from the audience, which does indeed qualify as breaking the fourth wall.

If it’s all the same to you I’ll continue my blogging career, such as it is. It may not pay much, but as opportunities to school the likes of you show, there are other rewards besides money.

uranidiot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_fourth_wall

Next I have to make some corrections.

The rabbi wanted your bar mitzvah to happen in 1980 when you would have been 14 years old. I pleaded with him to allow you to have it in 1979 when you would still be 13 and not be embarrassed in front of your friends. He finally agreed providing you make a commitment to continue your religious training for one whole year after your bar mitzvah. You made that promise and kept it! You studied the Torah and were confirmed one year after your bar mitzvah. Mommy and I were very proud of you. You were so into it that we dubbed you “Captain Rabbi” and gave you a tee shirt with that name on the front!

The name of the musician that came to the house to show us some demo tapes was Lloyd. He was a drummer and was representing Lee Myles. When he showed us the tape of The Lee Myles Trio I was amazed to see that Lee Myles, who sang and played guitar was my cousin Marty Hirsch! I had not seen Marty for over twenty years. In 1957 I was playing conga with his band. We played a couple of weddings but did not get a gig in The Catskills that we had auditioned for.
I did in fact hire The Lee Myles Trio for your bar mitzvah, instructing Lloyd not to tell Marty (Lee) who the job was for. When Marty showed up for the gig he was floored when he saw me! I sat in with my conga drum and had a ball playing with my cousin Marty at my son’s bar mitzvah!