ANSWERING THE CALL-a poem

I see the owls.
And hawks carrying off chickens roosted in trees for the night
But my crows have returned to their winter housing

Wonder what they might like for feed

Though the winds did take down their tree in which they nested in over winter
For as long as I have been here.
For 22 years I’ve watched and waited.

Yesterday a good dozen gathered in a tree that overlooked their old home
Now gone
I wonder will they rebuild or do they time share in nests of other birds
Like the owl and hawk do.
Is the crow it’s third time share
So who is going to rebuild their home

What can I do?

-Written by Karen Kloepping
Printed and posted 11.1.2014 by kind permission and with great respect.

EVOLUTION OF THE SENTIENT HUMAN: THE PROVING GROUND FOR THE FOURTH LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS

WINNER OF THE 2014 GOLDEN GUANO AWARD!

EVOLUTION OF THE SENTIENT HUMAN: THE PROVING GROUND FOR THE FOURTH LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS:

-Molecular considerations through application of Darwinian precepts and defensive design to provide a theoretical model towards new insights into the evolution and origin of the human species

INTRODUCTION

“The perversity of the Universe tends towards a maximum state of entropy”

-John Campbell

 The First Law of Thermodynamics provides the basic definition of thermodynamic energy, also called internal energy, associated with all thermodynamic systems. This is the general Law of Conservation Of Energy in nature.

“… The total energy of an isolated system is constant; energy can be transformed from one form to another, but (it) cannot be created nor destroyed. “

Where  dU = Q – W, and  dU is the change in internal energy, and  is the change in internal energy, and  Q is the amount of energy supplied by the environment and W is the amount of work actually done. However, we know by observation that natural processes have a preferred direction of progress.

The Zen of Thermodynamic Theory states it succinctly,   “It just is:.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics states

“..  The entropy of an isolated system never decreases; such systems spontaneously evolve towards thermodynamic equilibrium, the configuration with maximum entropy.

Humans have multiple areas of contact with its environment.

Thus, for a suitable fictive quasi-static transfer, one can write:

As the second law of thermodynamics clarified the , the fourth law of thermodynamics refers any of a number of various hypothetical or postulated statements regarding energy, matter, temperature, time, or power principles in nature.

The Third Law Of Thermodynamics is sometimes stated as follows, regarding the properties of systems in equilibrium at absolute zero temperature:

At 0 degrees Kelvin (-273 F),Entropy = 0. This is because a system at zero temperature exists in its ground state, so that its entropy is determined only by the degeneracy of the ground state. Next 

OVERVIEW: Historically Relevant  Fourth Law of Thermodynamics Thought 

In the history of thermodynamics, there have been dozens of various supposed “fourth laws”. Recently stated can variations of the fourth laws often have reference to evolution, in such a way that they

“…reconcile the increasing entropy tendencies of the second law.”

In 1862,  German physicist Rudolf Clausius, defined the thermodynamic  property Entropy as the energy equivalence-value of the transformation of a working body of “any” physical body (typically a volume of atoms and or molecules) during a change state due to the action of the passage of heat into or out of the body, across its boundary, quantified by the value:

Where Q is an inexact differential quantity of heat at an absolute temperature T  that is produced from work due to the forces exerted by the constituent molecules of the body in question upon each other.

THE FOURTH LAWOF THEMODYAMICS AND EVOLUTION OF THE SENTIENT HUMAN SPECIES:  HUMAN ENTROPY

The conception of the possession of an entropy value of individual person or human molecule or species of human molecules at a specific reference point in time is what is referred to as “human entropy”. In human systems, the definition of entropy is the same with the translation that the “working body” is defined such that instead of water molecules, confined to the internal regions of a steam engine, put in alternating contact with a hot body (a fire) and a cold body (cool water), driven to do mechanical work (push a piston), we have human molecules, confined to the internal regions of various regions of social systems, put in alternating contact with a hot body (the day sun) and a cold body (the cool night sky), driven to do the daily work of life, e.g. economic work, social work, volunteer work, household work, parenting work, territorial expansion work, interpersonal work, relationship work, etc. [Thims, Libb. (2007). Human Chemistry (Volume One), (preview). Morrisville, NC: LuLu.]

The human species is dynamic, creative, reasoning and animated in its behavior. The evolutionary behavior surprisingly injects subtle yet progressive influence of entropy best seen in inanimate objects.

“The first mention of the idea of a ‘fourth law’ of thermodynamics seems to have occurred in the 1930s lectures of German chemist Walther Nernst, formulator of the third law. Specifically, at the end of a 1937 lecture at Oxford University, remembered vividly by English physical chemist Keith Laidler, Nernst commented that it took three people to formulate the first law, two for the second, but that he had been obliged to do the third all by himself; hence, by extrapolation, there could never be a fourth law.

As mentioned earlier, the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the entropy of an isolated system never decreases, because isolated systems always evolve toward thermodynamic equilibrium, a state with maximum entropy. 

SHANNON STATISTICAL ENTROPY PROVIDES THE CONSTANT FOR THE FOURTH LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS WITH RESPECT TO THE EVOLUTION OF THE SENTIENT HUMAN 

In statistical thermodynamics, the second law is a consequence of unitarity in quantum mechanics and as such, provides a backdrop in our understanding of Shannon entropy as it relates to the number of alternative and frequently microscopic configurations affecting the evolution of the human species. In Shannon entropy, H, is given by the formula 

Where   is the probability of character number i showing up in a stream of characters of the given “script”.

A Zen moment with Mr. Natural.

A “script” is any behavior, that is repetitively performed as a response to any event, particularly an Event of Adverse Outcome (EAO) ” without consideration of causality or modification as in an “all or nothing response’.

Another Zen moment with Mr. Natural to remind each other it’s never to late to start not taking ourselves too seriously.

 O’TOOLE’S COROLLARY: A NECESSARY COMPONENT TO ACCURATELY CALCULATING SHANNON ENTROPY WITHIN THE FOURTH LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS AND EVOLUTION.

O’Toole’s Corollary has best been described of as “ an  ad hoc multiplicative or additive term in an equation which can only be justified by the fact that it “gives more correct results” and reduces the magnitude of the effect of repetitive adverse outcomes” in accordance with the General Laws of Science and Engineering (Reilly), Augustus De Morgan’s time honored Scientific Process Theorem, the multiple applications of  Finagle’s Laws of Dynamic Negatives that characterizes the O’Toole Corollary as the  “Defensive Design model “ of the new millennium. Wherein,

Fundamental concept of the fourth Law of Thermodynamics

In solving for fourth law of thermodynamics constant variables which lead to our current concept in the Evolution of the Sentient Human.

The  O’Toole Corollary is the variable constant representing the Shannon entropy. H, and provides the glue that clarifies and removes the shroud of mystery surrounding the evolution of the sentient human species.

Throughout history, some of the greatest minds have required that defining variable in the proving ground of some of the most world renowned laws and as a means to readily explain a phenomenon that has defied some of the bravest and innovative scientific minds.  There are a multitude of necessary variations and numeric equivalents of O’Toole’s Corollary, ,

 

CARNOT’S THEOREM

is a principle based upon established principle that limits the maximum  efficiency for any possible dynamic which states;

• All irreversible heat engines between two heat reservoirs are less efficient than a Carnot engine operating between the same reservoirs.
• All reversible heat engines between two heat reservoirs are equally efficient with a Carnot engine operating between the same reservoirs.

 In balanced dynamic processes, ordinarily we find that 

The efficiency of that object solely depends on the temperature difference between the hot and cold thermal reservoirs. In his ideal model, the heat converted into work could be reinstated by reversing the motion of the cycle, a concept subsequently known as thermodynamic reversibility.

Cannot’s Theorem (2014):  Modification and Applicability of the Carnot Theorem to Humans (published ahead of print and peer-review)

Cannot’s Theorem (2014) evaluated the ability of the human species to respond and recover from stress (Event of Adverse Outcomes) efficiently and reversibly. Heat engines in humans can be analyzed quantified  bu representative correlates  the differences in human correlates of hot and cold, also referred to as “Yin”   and “Yang” and represented in mathematical terms by the more common references to Yin and Yang in that now,

 respectively, states that a balanced equilibrium in a single individual  is represented the equation

Throughout the history of human evolution, thermodynamic reversibility has essentially been suppressed by adaptation and defensive design.  Carnot’s Theorem, therefore, cannot apply to the human species because humans, through evolution and adaptive responses, appear to have lost the capacity of thermodynamic reversibility as a single Carnot engine but instead transfer the energy through defensive design and  transferable irreversibility.

 

Cannot’s Theorem of Defensive Design modifies Carnot’s ideal model system by the following:

Human modeling studies have consistently shown in validated, comparative behavior evolution tests of Psychometric Phenotypes (Chortle, et al, 2013; PPAnal®: Preferences and Predictability Patterns in OCD;  Brown-25 (Uranus), Inc.)  show that humans, as a species , have clearly been suppressing the  capacity for  thermodynamic reversibility behavior patterns in response to stress and minor life events for at least 40 years. The trend began in early 1980 as the Generation Me group attained adulthood.

• Humans use repetitive engagement in learning new behaviors particularly with Predictors of Adverse Outcome scores. These repetitive patterns do not appear to demonstrate any reversibility over time as evidenced by the 2-3 fold consistently high scores
• Humans prefer to release/transfer the excess stored energy acquired during an Event of Adverse Outcome between different heat reservoirs, usually an interacting human directly or indirectly associated with the Adverse Outcome Event.
• The inefficiency demonstrated by this thermodynamic irreversibility and transference is clearly shown in all reports of Psychometric Phenotype Analysis
• All irreversible heat engines between two heat reservoirs (transference) are less efficient than a Carnot engine operating between the same reservoirs.
• Humans show no equally efficiency acting as a presumptive Carnot engine operating between the same reservoirs (Events of Adverse Outcome)

Human demonstrations of indifference to repetition (HRE’s) in every category of response to Event of Adverse outcome is not within the range of the calculated   . That discrepancy seen between subjective and objective subsections of the PPAnal® Psychometric Phenotype Analysis Tests (Brown-25 project; Uranus Corp. 2013) can be accounted for by the addition of

Recent Whole Genome  Association Studies (WGAS) obtained from by permission from the Personal Genomee Project shows the presence of both YIN242 and constant 242YANG regions;   however, comparative genomes from both regions (National Center for Biotechnology Information 

(NCBI);’ 1997-2008) show that, since 2008, both regions are increasingly characterized by diminishing numbers of repeats in both the  5’ and 3’ directions. Laboratory studies, however, in both quiet and stress states, these recent studies have consistently failed to demonstrable the presence of either the Yin protein or Yang protein or its precursor, ZEN346 using standard methodology.  

PSYCHOMETRIC PHENOTYPE ANALYSIS-RESULTS

The Psychometric Phenotype Analysis Test (PPAnal® [Hansel, JA, and Gretel, YA. The Brown-25 Project, Uranus Corporation; 2013) was administered retrospectively to 75% of all participants with sequences to evaluate for the predominance of either the Yin (Y < 0) or Yang (Y < 0) behavioral Phenotypes. Ordinarily in reversible Carnot engines/objects,

and in humans;

However, in nearly all cases,

A greater than 2 fold predominance of the Yang behavioral phenotype over the Yin phenotype that was constant over 2 years demonstrating irreversibility and directly correlated with biochemical studies reporting minimal to no demonstrable evidence for expression of either the Yin or Yang proteins or Zen precursor proteins. Further studies of active targeting by SUMO for degradation are currently being evaluated at our institution.  “Normalization” of the objective/subjective discrepancy was provided by the numeric deviaton of O’Toole’s Corollary, to complete the application of the Fourth Law of Thermodynamics to explain the previously unknown evolution of the Sentient Human Species, wherein:

In order to apply the necessary modification to answer the fourth law of thermodynamics

question,  

, the following equation is required, if 

BIOINFORMATICS/PROTEOMIC MODELING STUDIES

3D models of the Yin and Yang proteins were generated from concensus amino acid sequences aligned using the T-Coffee algorithm within Jalview. The FASTA concensus was used to generate the 3D models of the individual, unbound proteins as well as the unique “inverted comma” docking pattern in Yin-Yang associations using the Modeler (Zhang Lab) program in UCSF Chimera.

The available, previously published, Yin (2YiN|Chain A) and Yang (2YNG|Chain A) pdb files were downloaded from the internet (Protein Data Bank, http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/home/home.do)

TABLE 1. THE LAWS OF INACCURATE PERCEPTION

THE TWELVE LAWS OF INACCURATE PERCEPTION
Reference	Quotable Statute	Author	Year	Citations	Collectables
FINAGLE’S LAW (OF DYNAMIC NEGATIVES)	“Anything that can go wrong, will”	Francis P. Chisholm		“The Chisholm Effect” ; A Stress Analysis Of A Strapless Evening Gown: And Other Essays For A Scientific Eye,
DeMORGAN’S SCIENTIFIC PROCESS THEOREM	“The first experiment already illustrates a truth of the theory, well confirmed by practice, what-ever can happen will happen if we make trials enough.”	Augustus DeMorgan	June 23, 1866
FIRST LAW OF STAGE MAGIC	It is an experience common to all men to find that, on any special occasion, such as the production of a magical effect for the first time in public, everything that can go wrong will go wrong. Whether we must attribute this to the malignity of matter or to the total depravity of inanimate things, whether the exciting cause is hurry, worry, or what not, the fact remains.	Nevil Maskelyne	1908
SOD’S LAW	‘If anything can go wrong, it will”.  “Sod’s Law… is the force in nature which causes it to rain mostly at weekends, which makes you get flu when you are on holiday, and which makes the phone ring just as you’ve got into the bath.	Some old “sod”			The reason “Due Diligence’ is law Sod’s Law is the polar opposite of “Due Diligence”. If you do not make sure 100% that you have covered all your bases something will go wrong.
ANCIENT MOUNTAINEERING ADAGE	Anything that can possibly go wrong, does	John Sack	1952
REILLY’S LAW	in any scientific or engineering endeavor, anything that can go wrong will go wrong”
STRAUSS’ LAW	“I hope it will be known as Strauss’ law. It could be stated about like this: If anything bad can happen, it probably will.	Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Lewis Strauss	Chicago Tribune; February 12, 1955
THE FIRST COROLLARY TO SOD’S LAW	Anything that is to go wrong will do so at the worst possible moment.
HOWE’S LAW	Every man has a scheme which will not work
Hanlon’s Razor	Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity
Occam’s Raxzor	“The one with the fewest assumptions should be selected.” Or Keep it Simple, Syupid
LOGIC OF EMPIRE (1941)	“You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity.”	Robert A. Heinlein; see Hanlon’s Razor
O’TOOLE’S COROLLARY ( )	“The perversity of the Universe tends towards a maximum”
HE UNSPEAKABLE LAW	As soon as you mention something, if it’s good, it goes away; if it’s bad, it happens.
NON-RECIPROCAL LAWS OF EXPECTATIONS.	Negative expectations yield negative results. Positive expectations yield negative results.
ZYMURGY’S FIRST LAW OF EVOLVING SYSTEM DYNAMICS.	Once you open a can of worms, the only way to re-can them is to use a larger can.
SKINNER’S CONSTANT	The quantity which must be multiplied by, divided by, added to or subtracted from the answer you get to give the answer you should have got
LAW OF SELECTIVE GRAVITY	An object will fall so as to do the most damage
JENNING’S COROLLARY	The chance of the bread falling with the buttered side down is directly proportional to the cost of the carpet.
BARTH’S DISTINCTION	There are two types of people: those who divide people into two types and those who do not
FARBER’S RULE	Necessity is the mother of strange bedfellows
MURPHY’S LAW (1930)	“If an aircraft fitter on one of our carriers can re-install a serviced component wrongly, then one day he will.”	Commander J. Murphy USN			Commander J. Murphy USN was a procurement officer for the US Navy in the 1930’s. He was in charge of the procurement of aircraft. When monitoring the design and development of new aircraft, he tried to instill simplicity of maintenance into the likes of Douglas and Grumman. Apparently one of his most belabored expressions was:
NINETY-NINETY RULE OF PROJECT SCHEDULES	The first 90% of the job takes 90% of the time, the last 10% takes the other 90%.
MURPHY’S LAW	If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it.” “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong)”	Edward A. Murphy, Jr	USAF project MX981, 1949		Edward A. Murphy, Jr. was one of McDonnell-Douglas’s test engineers on the rocket-sled experiments that were done by the U.S. Air Force in 1949 to test human acceleration tolerances (USAF project MX981). One experiment involved a set of 16 accelerometers mounted to different parts of the subject’s body. There were two ways each sensor could be glued to its mount, and somebody methodically installed all 16 in a replacement set the wrong way around. Murphy then made the original form of his pronouncement, which the test subject (Major John Paul Stapp) mis-quoted (apparently in the more general form at a news conference a few days later.
Defensive Design; Defensive Programming	Defensive programming is a form of defensive design intended to ensure the continuing function of a piece of software under unforeseen circumstances. The idea can be viewed as reducing or eliminating the prospect of Finagle’s Law having effect. Defensive programming techniques are used especially when a piece of software could be misused.

And that is the rest of the story…

-A Mediguano exclusive. Pure Guano.

Time to hide…

LIFE SIMPLY FINDS A WAY

Here's the script.  There are so many great quotes in series here. Had to get the script and share it. From Jurassic Park:

MALCOLM
John, the kind of control you're attempting is not possible.  If there's one thing the history of evolution has taught us, it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free.  It expands to new territories.  It 
crashes through barriers.  Painfully, maybe even..dangerously, but and...
well, there it is.

WU
You're implying that a group of composed entirely of females will breed?

MALCOLM
I'm simply saying that life - - finds a way.

(Later in the script)

MALCOLM
Don't you see the danger, John, inherent in what you're doing here?  Genetic power is the most awesome force ever seen on this planet.  But you 
wield it like a kid who's found his dad's gun.
-I'll tell you.

MALCOLM (cont'd)
The problem with scientific power you've used is it didn't require any 
discipline to attain it.  You read what others had done and you took the next step.  You didn't earn the knowledge yourselves, so you don't take 
the responsibility for it.  You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to 
accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you knew what you 
had, you patented it, packages it, slapped in on a plastic lunch box, and now you want to sell it.

HAMMOND
You don't give us our due credit. Our scientists have done things no one
could ever do before. 

MALCOLM 
Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that 
they didn't stop to think if they should.

No way around statistics in that biology does what it does so well. It simply finds a way.

THE VALUE OF NOTHING

The value of nothing lies in the balance

“Love Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry” Revisited

You might wonder why an article with this opening title is appearing in my Mediguano forum. First of all, thus is not     a movie review. That over with, to many of us who were young and naïve enough to sit through the movie “Love  Story” when it was first released in 1970 [LOVESTORY, directed by Arthur Hiller; written by Erich Segal; starring Ryan O’Neal and Ali McGraw], the phrase    “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” may evoke a number of responses ranging anywhere from fond distant loving memories of the steady girl/boy we held hands with during the movie, to something akin to an acute bout of gastroenteritis. As for the book, Roger Ebert wrote, “Segal’s prose style is so revoltingly coy — sort of a cross between a parody of Hemingway and the instructions on a soup can, “[LOVE STORY; Roger Ebert; Chicago Sun Times.  January 1, 1970]. Judith Crist called Love Story “Camille with bullshit.” Writer Harlan Ellison eloquently called it, “shit” [The Glass Teat: Essays of Opinion on Television; Harlan Ellison; LA Free Press (1970)]. Therefore, the symptom of gastroenteritis was not too far off.

For those of you that are either curious about this article to read past the title or somehow missed a golden opportunity to see the movie (Filmsite Movie Review, http://www.filmsite.org/love.html), or read the book, here’s the opening line:

(Background music “Where Do I Begin”, sung by Andy Williams)

“What can you say about a twenty-five-year-old girl who died? That she was beautiful. And Brilliant. That she loved Mozart and Bach. And the Beatles. And me.”

The Script

The basic storyline is Oliver “Preppie” Barrett IV (Ryan O’Neal), is a pre-law, hockey player, Harvard student from a wealthy family (he calls his father “Son-of-a-bitch”) who meets and falls in love with Jenny Cavelleri, (Ali McGraw) an intelligent, a “Real tight-ass…plays piano for the Bach Society”, Radcliffe College student from a financially disadvantaged, loving family (she calls her father “Phil”).

Jenny: Are you a dirty player? Would you ever total me?

Oliver: I will right now if you don’t shut up.

Jenny: I’m leaving. Goodbye.

Jenny: “Now I’ve seen a hockey game”

Oliver: “What did you like best?”

“What would you say if I told you…I think I’m in love with you?”

Jenny: “When you were on your ass.“

Oliver: ”Thanks for coming.

“What would you say if I told you…I think I’m in love with you?”

Jenny: Never say “love” if you don’t mean it

Somewhat later

Oliver: What would you say if I told you…I think I’m in love with you?

Jenny: Never say “love” if you don’t mean it

 

As time goes on, Oliver opens up to Jenny about his fears.

 

   Oliver: “I’m tired of playing your game. You are a supreme Radcliffe smart-ass.  The best. You put down anything in pants.”

    Jenny: “But verbal volleyball is not my idea of a relationship.”

    Oliver: “If that’s what you think it’s all about, go back to your music waltz.”

    Jenny: “I think you’re scared. You put up a wall to keep from getting hurt,

    but it also keeps you from getting touched.”

    Oliver: “It’s a risk, isn’t it, Jenny?”

   Jenny: “At least I had the guts to admit what I felt. Someday you’ll have to come  up with the courage to admit that you care. I care.”

Confronting their families proved to be a bit uncomfortable. After a tense moment meeting Oliver’s father, Jenny says to Oliver,

Jenny: “He was only trying to be helpful.”

Oliver: “I don’t need that kind of help. He’s not going to be satisfied until he cuts them off.”

Jenny: “What you wouldn’t like to be cut off? Oh… Well, we’ve got to take care of those. You really like to bug your father.”

Oliver: “The feeling is mutual.”

Jenny: You wouldn’t stop at anything to get to him.”

Oliver: “It’s impossible to get to Oliver Barrett, lll.”

Jenny: Unless maybe if you marry Jennifer Cavilleri?”

    Oliver: “Is that what you think?”

    Jenny: “Yes, it’s part of it.”

    Oliver: “You don’t believe I love you?”

    Jenny: “Yes, but you also love my negative social status.”

 

Oliver reluctantly tells his father about Jenny.

Oliver: “You haven’t mentioned Jennifer.”

Oliver lll: ”What is there to say? You’re presenting us with a fait accompli”

Oliver: “But what did you think? “

Oliver lll: She’s absolutely charming. With her background, to get to Radcliffe is…”

Oliver: “Get to the point! “

 Oliver lll: “It doesn’t concern her, but you. Your rebellion.  And you are rebelling. I fail…”

Oliver: “I fail to see how marrying a brilliant Radcliffe girl constitutes rebellion. She’s not some crazy hippie.”

Oliver lll: “She’s not many things.”

Oliver: “What irks you most, that she’s Catholic or poor?”

     Oliver lll: “What attracts you most? “

    Oliver: “I’m leaving.”

     Oliver lll: Don’t go off half-cocked. I would only ask that you wait a bit.”

     Oliver: “Define “bit”.

     Oliver lll: “Finish Law School. If it’s real, it’ll stand the test of time.”

     Oliver: “It is real, but why should I put it through a test?”

     Oliver lll: “I’m asking you. “

     Oliver: “You’re commanding me!”

Oliver lll: “If you marry her now, I’ll not give you the time of day.”

Oliver: “Father, you don’t know the time of day!”

Against the advice of family and loss of financial support from Oliver’s father, they decide love conquers all and still get married.

Jenny: Who said anything about marriage?

 

Oliver: I’m saying it, now.

Jenny: “You want to marry me?”

 

“Because.”

 

Oliver: “Yeah.”

Jenn: “Why?”

Oliver: Because.

Hmmm. Works for me.

 

They discuss their spirituality.

Oliver: “Why did you leave the Church?”

Jenny: “don’t know. I never really joined. I never thought there was another world better than this one. What could be better than Mozart? Or Bach? Or you?”

Later on, they explain to Phil about Oliver III’s blessing of the impending marriage and not marrying in the Catholic Church.

“Don’t bullshit thy father.”

 

Phil: “Do not bullshit thy father.”

Jenny: “Any other commandments I should know?”

Phil: “Yeah, ”Stay loose.”  So is he (Oliver’s father) for it? Does he approve?”

Jenny: “What do you think?”

Phil: “I won’t allow it, do you get me?”

 

Jenny: “You’re tilting at windmills, Phil. Stop calling his father a windmill. He’s a distinguished citizen…”

Oliver: “Mr. Cavilleri…Phil.”

Phil: “I’ll call his goddamn father.”

Jenny: “It won’t do any good, goddammit!”

Phil: “Don’t use profanity in this house.”

Jenny: “You do.”

Phil: “What will he think? “

Jenny: “That you’ve gone mad.”

Phil: “Because I won’t allow a parent to reject a child?”

Oliver: “Mr. Cavilleri… Phil. Phil, sir… I reject him, too!”

Phil: “Don’t talk like that. A father’s love is something to cherish and respect.”

Oliver: “It’s a rare thing.  Especially in my family.”

Phil: “Let’s get him on the phone. We have this cold line. He’ll thaw and melt. Believe me, when it’s time to go to church…”

Jenny: “Please, Phil.”

Phil: “What?”

Jenny: “About the church bit…Well, we’re kind of negative on it.”

Phil: “I didn’t necessarily mean the Catholic Church. You know that Jennifer is Catholic? She may have told you that. And her sainted mother always dreamed of the whole mass rigmarole, but you’re…”

Oliver: “But God would bless this union in any church.”

Jenny: “Phil?”

Phil:  “Yeah?

 

Jenny: “About the God bit.”

Phil:  “Yeah?”

Jenny: “We’re sort of negative about that, too.”

Phil:  “About God? About anybody’s God?”

Jenny: “Neither of us believe”

Phil: “That’s…wonderful.”

After their wedding, they reluctantly accept being students living on $3,000/year, living in “the Mongolian section of Cambridge”, paying rent on their own, paying their own bills, and not being able to do their own car repairs. However, when it comes up to engaging in a conversation regarding establishing a relationship with Oliver III, Oliver refuses to make the cacall on his birthday and let’s Jenny call for them.

Jenny (on phone): “Good evening, this is Jennifer Barrett….Mr. Barrett! Good evening, sir…Fine, thank you…Yes, we did. That’s why I’m calling…I’m terribly sorry, I mean we’re terribly sorry…but… no we can’t….I’m sorry.”

Oliver, please talk to him. Just say hello.”

Oliver: “I will never talk to him.”

Jenny: ”Can’t you do it for me? I’ve never asked you to do anything in my whole life. Just for me.”

Oliver: “No.”

Jenny: ”You’re a heartless bastard…Mr. Barrett? Oliver would like you to know, that in his own special way, (quickly into the phone) he loves you very much…”

Oliver: “Get the hell out of my life!”

Oliver angrily storms away. When he returns, Jenny is waiting outside the apartment and has been crying. She looks up and says,

Jenny: “I forgot my key.”

Oliver: “Jenny, I’m sorry.”

Jenny: “Don’t. Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”

“Love means nevar having to say you’re sorry

 

“I’m sorry..”

 

 

 

 

 

Oliver’s attitude begins to change and pays more attention to Jenny’s needs. Gone are the playful verbal jabs at one another. Oliver later tells Jenny hopefully, “Someday, we’ll look back on these days…”

Oliver graduates from Harvard law school (third place) and makes the Law Review.  His greatest  excitement was receiving the William DeJersey Memorial Award ($500) and working for the Jonas and Marsh law firm. What to do with money? They talked of  having a baby (Bozo-her name for him). He told a friend Jenny wouldn’t have to work  and support them anymore. He said, “I want her to study, she wants a baby. So we’re    making babies.” He never said why he wanted to do those things. Noticeable absent in  the script are the former outward verbal and sometime trivial expressions of their  love for each other.

Two other problems develop. Despite being young, they are unable to conceive. Jenny is found to have leukemia. Not HIV-this is 1970. Disregarding current HIPAA patient confidentiality regulations that exist today, Oliver hears about Jenny’s condition directly from her obstetrician and after asking whose “fault” it was, says,

Oliver: “Two 24-year-olds can’t make a baby. One must be malfunctioning. Who?”

Doctor: “Jenny.”

Oliver: “All right, then we’ll adopt kids.”Doctor: “The problem is more serious. Jenny is very sick.”

Doctor: “She’s dying.”

Oliver: “That’s impossible. It’s a mistake, it has to be.” ”

Doctor: “We repeated her blood test three times. The diagnosis is correct.”

Oliver: “What do I do? What can I do for Jenny?”

Doctor: “Act as normal as possible, for as long as possible. That’s really the best thing.”

Oliver: “Normal. I’ll be as normal as hell.”

“She’s dying.”

“Normal. I’ll be as normal as hell.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oliver does not say anything to her. Later, remembering that at one time she mentioned traveling to Paris was a dream, he surprised her with her Christmas present- tickets to Paris, France.

Oliver: “Paris, France. We’ll be there Christmas Day.”

Jenny: “No, that’s

not the way we’ll do it.”

Oliver: “Do what?”

Jenny: “I don’t want Paris, I don’t need Paris. I just want you.”

Oliver: “That you got, baby.”

Jenny: “And I want time, which you can’t give me.”

“And I want time, which you can’t give me.”

 “Paris, France. We’ll be there Christmas Day.”.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I’m counting on you to be strong, you goddamn hockey jock.”

 

Jenny: “I’m counting on you to be strong, you goddamn hockey jock.”
Oliver: “I will, baby. I will.”
Jenny: “It will be hardest for Phil. You, after all, are going to be the merry widower.”
Oliver: “I won’t be merry.”

Jenny: “Yes, you will. I want you to be merry. You’ll be merry, OK?”
Oliver: “OK.”

 

Later, as her disease progresses to its terminal end, Oliver tells the doctor he wants her “to have the best”, and,  “whatever she wants…Screw the cost.”  They didn’t have the money, so Oliver reaches out to his father to help Jenny.

Oliver: “I need to borrow $5,000 dollars for a very good reason.”

Oliver III: “Well?’

Oliver: “Sir?”

Oliver III: “May I know the reason?”

Oliver: “I can’t tell you. Just lend me the money, please.”

Oliver III: “Don’t they pay you at the firm?

Oliver: “Yes, sir.”

Oliver III: “And doesn’t she teach…”

Oliver: “Don’t call her “she”.”

Oliver III: “Doesn’t Jennifer…”

Oliver: “Leave her out of it. Just write out a cheque. It’s a very important personal matter.”

Oliver III: “You got some girl in trouble?”

Oliver: “Yeah, that’s it.”

Oliver III: “Please lend me the money.”

Oliver: “Thank you, Father.”

While holding each other in her hospital bed Jenny speaks to Oliver alone.

Jenny: “It doesn’t hurt, Ollie. It’s like falling off a cliff in slow motion.
Jenny: “Only after a while you wish you’d hit the ground already, you know?
Oliver: “Yeah.
Jenny: “Bullshit. You’ve never fallen off a cliff.
Oliver: “Yes, I did. When I met you.
Jenny: “Yeah. “What a falling off was there. Who said that?”

Oliver: “I don’t know. Shakespeare?
Jenny: “Yeah, but who? I mean, what play?  I went to Radcliffe, I’m supposed to remember those things. I once knew all the Mozart Kochel listings.
Oliver: “Big deal. 

Jenny: “You bet it was. What number is the A Major Concerto?
Oliver: “I don’t know. I’ll look it up.

Jenny: “But I used to know all those things.
Oliver: “Do you want to talk music?

“That guilty look on your face, it’s sick. Stop blaming yourself, you stupid preppy. It’s nobody’s fault. It’s not your fault. That’s the only thing I’ll ask you.”

Jenny: “What do you want to talk? Funerals?”
Oliver: “No, I don’t.”
Jenny: “Ollie? I told Phil you could have a Catholic service and you’d say OK. OK?”
Jenny: “lt’ll really help him a lot, you know?”
Oliver: “OK.
Jenny: “Now you’ve got to stop being sick.”
Oliver: “Me?”
Jenny: “That guilty look on your face, it’s sick.”
Jenny: “Stop blaming yourself, you stupid preppy. It’s nobody’s fault. It’s not your fault.”

Jenny: “That’s the only thing I’ll ask you. Otherwise, you’ll be OK.”

“Screw Paris and music and everything you thought you stole from me.”

Jenny: “Screw Paris!”

Oliver: “What?”

“Then get the hell out of here! I don’t want you at my deathbed!”

 

Jenny: “Screw Paris and music and everything you thought you stole from me.”
Oliver: “I don’t care, don’t you believe that?”
Jenny: “Then get the hell out of here! I don’t want you at my deathbed!”
Oliver: “I believe you. I really do.”

 

 

 

“Would you please do something for me? Would you please hold me?”

 

Jenny: “That’s better.”
Jenny: “Would you please do something for me?”
Jenny: “Would you please hold me?”
Jenny: “I mean really hold me. Next to me.”

 

 

 

 Afterwards, Oliver meets Phil and his father.

 

“I wish…I wish I hadn’t promised Jenny…I wish I hadn’t promised Jenny to be strong for you.”

 

 

Phil: “I wish…I wish I hadn’t promised Jenny…I wish I hadn’t promised Jenny to be strong for you.

 

 

 

In the next scene, Oliver sees his father, who arrives unexpectedly,

 

 

 

 

“Why didn’t you tell me? I made some calls, and when I found out I jumped in the car. Oliver, I want to help.”

Oliver III: “Oliver.”
Oliver III: “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Oliver III: “I made some calls, and when I found out I jumped in the car.”
Oliver III: “Oliver, I want to help.”
Oliver IV: “Jenny’s dead.”
Oliver III: “I’m sorry.”

Oliver IV: “Love…Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”

 

 

“Jenny’s dead.”

“I’m sorry…”

 

 

 

 

 

“Love…love means never having to say you’re sorry.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discussion

I was 16 when this movie came out. Looking back, we must have seen it 7 times in seven separate dates with 7 different girls. Hated it and it showed-probably why I never had a second date with any of them. Subsequently, whenever this movie has been brought up in conversation, the most frequent agreement has been how ridiculous the line, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” really is. At our age, most of us have had a few bad interactions and at least one we’re willing enough to admit that we were in love with someone. We were in agreement that on more than one occasion, had we not said “I’m sorry” quickly and sincerely to that person we said we loved and presumably still loved us; we would undoubtedly be in a huge pile of crap very quickly. “Let’s get real. Since when do we hurt the people we know we love and care the most about and not feel remorse afterward and want to apologize?”

Which finally brings us to the subject of this rather lengthy prelude. I again have had the recent experience of hurting someone I cared very much about. Thinking back, it was something I did and had done on occasion at various times in my life for which I sincerely felt remorse for and apologized by honestly saying, “I’m sorry.” Not that it was forgiven or, more importantly, they the person I had hurt was happy again. I felt better, of course but what was the point?  In many ways, it was my pain of hurting them that was the driving force behind the verbal response, “I’m sorry.” Somewhere along the way the point was missed that actions do speak louder than words. That doesn’t mean responding with action upon hurting that person relieves our indiscretion. It boils down to a conscious decision to deeply understand the person we love and care most about as well as our own  character defects and shortcomings that allowed us to cause that harm. By doing so, in reality, that is why the phrase “love means never having to say you’re sorry” begins to have a deeper meaning.

In the book, “True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart,” by Thich Nhat Hanh, he describes within the first chapter that the essence of true love requires unconditional kindness, compassion, the capability to bring joy to the loved one, and ultimately, “You must love in such a way that the person you love feels free.” Of our two characters, only Jenny was shown to have   felt that freedom. It is apparent that Oliver, despite being bogged down by his father’s repression and control, he somehow was able to deliver that message to Jenny. His shortcomings were evident early in the story. After their argument over her seemingly out of character timely utterance, “Oliver would like you to know, that in his own special way, (quickly into the phone) he loves you very much…” he changed.

Oliver’s issues with his father proved to be a barrier to the unconditional kindness, compassion, experience of joy and freedom clearly offered to him by Jenny. He, too, felt the need to control his father just as his father controlled him. His father, surprisingly, was able to help by asking how he could help. Oliver was able to as for the money. There was obvious dishonesty in the answer but nonetheless, Oliver helped his father by asking for that money. The movie ended with Oliver still being unable to accept his father’s show of compassion by interrupted his father and said, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” Not the best move, Oliver. That wasn’t the message Jenny had delivered to him.

Oliver’s failure was predictable. He failed to see that he could not accept his father for who he was. Jenny told him that, “I think you’re scared. You put up a wall to keep from getting hurt, but it also keeps you from getting touched.” In that same scene she remarked, “Someday you’ll have to come up with the courage to admit that you care. I care.” Not so much courage as it was a willingness to concede and accept his father. She saw through that and although by watching the movie, it is clear she was telling him the person he could not accept or care about was his father. Not her even though that clearly caused problems between the two of them. His perpetual tendency towards self-pity carried to her death. Although it was clear he loved her, instead of being there for her only at her last minute, she consoled him as she was dying and said angrily, “That guilty look on your face. It’s sick. Stop blaming yourself, you stupid preppy. It’s nobody’s fault. It’s not your fault. That’s the only thing I’ll ask you. “   Reluctantly, as seen by observation of his body language, finally did something for her that she had to ask for, “Would you please do something for me? Would you please hold me? I mean really hold me. Next to me.”  Bad move, Oliver. See, love really does mean never having to say you’re sorry.

In the story, both Jenny and Oliver were at odds with their spiritual side as evidenced by the conversation with Jenny’s father. Oliver was handicapped as a result of his obstinance and unreasoning prejudice towards his father. Jenny on the other hand, although admittedly agnostic, demonstrated a sense of reasoning not demonstrated by Oliver. She was his sole source of joy and happiness. As she was dying, that pending loss of someone to help him find an inner peace and serenity was gone. They were both “kind of negative” on both aspects on the issue of God. Had Oliver being willing to travel that route, “But God would bless this union in any church,” he would have been less concerned about his father. This is not to imply an organized religious conformation, but to simply give up his control that was preventing him helping Jenny.  Jenny’s reversion to her faith was demonstrated when she informed Oliver, “Ollie? I told Phil you could have a Catholic service and you’d say OK. OK?  It’ll really help him a lot, you know?”  Despite her agnosticism, she still had a spiritual life. Agnostics are able to identify that a willingness to maintain control over their daily affairs can destroy others to a great degree. You could almost hear Phil, and Jenny later, look at Oliver and ask, “Who are you to say there is no God? Find serenity peace and somewhere, it doesn’t matter, just find it somewhere outside of yourself, for pity’s sake!” He was deluded in his belief that by following in his father’s footsteps and obtaining the material things in life to make Jenny happy would ensure his own inner peace.

Oliver frankly never got on track.   It has been said that “A business which takes no inventory usually goes broke.” Oliver was blind to his own character defects and remained steadfastly intolerant of his father. Although it is unclear in the story why or how Oliver III, the son of a bitch, was able to do what Oliver IV could not, he did two things that showed unconditional love towards his son that rejected him. First, he went along with Oliver’s lie and gave him an excuse why he needed money, “Don’t they pay you at the firm?”, and then, “You got some girl in trouble?” Oliver could then accept it provided he thought his father was disgusted with his need for money. The last was at the end, “Why didn’t you tell me? I made some calls, and when I found out I jumped in the car. Oliver, I want to help.” Come on, Oliver, give up those resentments. Advising your father inappropriately, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” was cute for the movies but clearly selfish and inconsiderate.  There are steps to take in all our affairs if we are ever to make amends with those we harm and thereby bring peace to everyone around.

Rick

January 26, 2013

 

References:

1. “Love Story (1970) – Screen: Perfection and a ‘Love Story’: Erich Segal’s Romantic Tale Begins Run”. The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-06-04. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E07E5DA1E30E337A2575BC1A9649D946190D6CF
2. LOVE STORY; Roger Ebert; Chicago Sun Times.  January 1, 1970.
3. The Glass Teat. Harlan Ellison; L.A. Free Press (1964–1978); Ace Publishing (May 1st 1983)