Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The One With All the Entropy (My 100th Post!)

I have been studying this concept of entropy. I am going to apologize in advance for my simplistic approach to the subject. If you have a scientific brain, you might want to just stop reading right now. Entropy is a central concept in thermodynamics. As such, it is the measure of disorder in a closed, but changing system. But as a sort of basic principle, entropy might be described as the process by which everything naturally unmakes itself. It is how, left to the natural order of things, household… personal appearance… financial stability…all will eventually devolve into chaos and disrepair. Do you see how fundamental entropy is? It is why you can’t have your house all clean at one time. It is why you can’t leave five-year-olds without a babysitter. It all starts to fall apart.

Some of my very favorite books are the Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card. The basic premise is that the Unmaker is constantly at work trying to tear down and cause darkness and destruction until, in true Good vs. Evil form, Alvin is born…the seventh son of a seventh son…with the power to Make. To create. To fight the evil Unmaker. Yes, the books ooze symbolism. And as with all my favorite books, I love the characters like they are my own best friends. But it is this concept of making versus unmaking that really appeals to me. I realize that my entire world is subject to entropy, and it is my job to fight it. Make. Create. Clean. Repent. Repair. Learn. Forgive. Serve others. All these things fight entropy.

On that subject, Tyler is coming home for five days! He is my household version of Alvin. He is Handy. I love handy men. Is it wrong that I have a whole list of things that Tyler is going to help me do while he is home? Come on…we’re just fighting entropy, here. What about you? Are you a positive force, or are you sitting back and letting entropy have its way? If it is the latter, you should at least drag your feet a little on the way down... And on that note, I am going to go fight in my kitchen for a little while.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Today I won the battle. The floors are mopped. The bathrooms are clean. The laundry is almost folded. The dishes are done.

OSC is one of my favorites too. I am considering attending his writer's workshop this summer.

Victoria said...

*Sigh* You did better than I...we left our messy house and went to the beach, and then to a track meet. I guess tomorrow is another day.

Tyler said...

I think I make like 80 percent of the time and and unmake like 20 percent. That makes me 20 percent entropic.