The dictionary defines resolve (noun) as Firmness of purpose.

Which made me think about the concept a little...

The other day, someone contacted me with a request that I couldn't grant. The person explained this request (and the reason behind it) to me in a fair amount of detail, with what I thought to be a fair amount of logic. Logic is something I appreciate, so I returned the favour by dedicating an hour or so to considering the matter, after which I provided them with a detailed written explanation of why I couldn't agree.

They called me the next day, close to outraged that I wasn't budging. I explained why, again, using simpler examples of the principles behind my argument. They reverted to threats. I repeated the reasoned logic. They said I was being abstract, that the fact that I was basing my side of the argument on principles was impractical. I smiled. In my case, the principle I was using to defend my thinking was one that I've over time given plenty of thought, arriving (long ago) at the conclusion that it made perfect sense to me, and that I'd use it as a base for reasoning about other things.

So why do I believe that you shouldn't back down when someone challenges you on a principle?

Here's why: True principles should be based on one absolute, and one absolute only: reason. They should came into existence because at some stage, somewhere, you asked "why?" And then tried to explain why, gathered facts, looked at prior experiences, conducted experiments, carefully considered the results, and finally arrived at a conclusion with the knowledge that what you came up with was based on your ability to think, and nothing else. If the principle can be proven wrong with a logical, proven argument, you should concede. Otherwise, never.

That's resolve.

To my amazement I have heard that there are people who have never seen a gnome. I can't help pitying these people. I am certain there must be something wrong with their eyesight.

- Axel Munthe

Besides never having seen a gnome, many people don't know these interesting facts about them:

• The average gnome (at roughly 275 years of age) is 15cm tall from the tip of his toes to the top of his head. I have in past told people that it's "to the tip of his hat". My mistake.
• Gnomes in general have 95 million sensory smell cells. That's almost as much as a Daschund, and 19 times as much as the average human.
• Apparently all male gnomes receive cuckoo clocks as wedding gifts. You won't find a gnome residence without one.
• Siberian gnomes are inbred, hang out with trolls often, and aren't all that nice. They scare me a little, to be honest.
• Gnomes always help wounded animals by treating them with herbal remedies.
• Most gnomes will mumble something about "feeling it in your bones" when you ask them how they're able to predict the weather so accurately. Don't believe them, they actually determine air humidity and approaching low-pressure systems by the position of the stomata found on the underside of leaves: an oak leaf has 58000 stomata per square centimeter. The gnome, with his sharp eyes, is capable of seeing, just by looking at the leaf, if the stomata are open or shut and thus making his calculations - without the aid of computers, of course.