Vincente L'Aquila

Stories, Symbols, and Systems for an Age in Search of Meaning. Former attorney now exploring the patterns that shape our inner and outer worlds.

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

Within each of us, there lives an innate desire to move beyond ourselves, into something greater.

It's part of the human condition. Universal and constant. Unmistakable and unavoidable.

Call it the search for meaning. 🧵

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

@marissastreit Not to mention that though they may or may not age our bodies, they keep our minds and spirits young.

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

@briankeepsworth And yet they are all examples of man intervening to end a life before its natural course. In this way, they are all the same. The death penalty is fundamentally incompatible with Christianity.

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

@HEPennypack1 For the record, Christianity didn't exist in 1200 BC.

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

The hardest part about being self-aware is that most other people are not.

When you're willing to acknowledge and discuss your own flaws and mistakes, even as the rest cannot do the same, you essentially paint a target on your own chest.

You become the one everyone else loves to dissect and analyze.

You become a lightning rod for blame.

You acknowledge your flaws, which people take as an invitation to find more.

By analyzing or blaming you, they find not only catharsis, but also the means to avoid looking at their own selves.

Do it anyway. Be self-aware. Be the bigger person. Never let anyone stop or slow your own never-ending inner growth.

We're all one anyway.

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

There is a lesson in this for anyone called to leadership.

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

@ChivalryGuild When I worked in politics, fresh out of college, my boss had no loyalty to or respect for his staff. He treated us like servants and burned everyone out in two years or less.

He did not last long in office. Four years after I had moved on to law school, he was without a job.

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

@theralkia I really do love my houseplants though. Materialism gray zone.

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

@Hildifons159911 @HumbleFlow K.

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

High IQ children take far fewer risks than their peers.

It's not a question of bravery or self-doubt. High IQ kids perform sophisticated risk/reward analyses.

For parents, learn the difference between "I can't do it" and "I don't want to do it."

If your child says "I can't do it," then you're hearing self-doubt and fear. These children need to be encouraged and shown that they can, in fact, do the thing.

But if your child says "I don't want to do it," their decision must be respected. These teaches them to trust their own mind, their own boundaries, their own assessments.

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

Romans chapter 12, all of it, and especially verse 19, which harkens back to the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, 32:35. So not only does the New conflict with the Old, but the Old conflicts with itself.

Also throughout the Gospels, Christ unequivocally rebukes the idea of "an eye for an eye," with God alone the righteous judge.

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

@Hildifons159911 @HumbleFlow When the Old Testament and the New Testament conflict, as they do on the question of capital punishment, which are Christians to follow?

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

@goodguyracist @GroyperNh @blockhead4000 Why do you feel so angry?

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

@HumbleFlow You're quoting Genesis. A lot changed after the time of Christ.

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

@Cr7Godbrand This is true, though we can say similar things about most men of this age too.

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

@VivaldiVril I wonder who all these promiscuous women are having sex with?

The problem these boys have is not that the women are having sex. Their real problem is that the women are not having sex with them. Go to any bar or college campus; 20% of guys have 95% of the sex.

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

@HSRdirector The premise is flawed too. Having children may age us in some ways -- I don't know the truth of that -- but it also keeps us young in others.

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

I have not read the book, yet the amount of insta-hate I received for three words really says a lot more about the audience here than it does about me.

I neither doubt nor belittle the achievements of the people who descend from this region. Indeed, my own ancestors hail from it.

Rather, I question the ways we think about human accomplishment. For example, is being a stellar parent not an accomplishment? How about creating a great work of art, designing a magnificent building, or crafting a delicious recipe? What about advancements in technology? Advancements in spiritual understanding?

If those things count, then we need to applaud the whole world.

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

This guy gets it at least. The amount of insta-hate I received for three words really says a lot more about the audience here than it does about me.

I neither doubt nor belittle the achievements of the people who descend from this region. Indeed, my own ancestors hail from it.

Rather, I question the ways we think about human accomplishment. For example, is being a stellar parent not an accomplishment? How about creating a great work of art, designing a magnificent building, or crafting a delicious recipe? What about advancements in technology? Advancements in spiritual understanding?

[Vincente L'Aquila @vincentelaquila]

@ChivalryGuild When I worked in politics, fresh out of college, my boss had no loyalty to or respect for his staff. He treated us like servants and burned everyone out in two years or less.

He did not last long in office. Four years after I had moved on to law school, he was without a job.