This is almost classic “Do as I say, Not as I do”. I charge each of you to live life. Choose Life. Engage yourself in living every day. The earlier in life you get in the habit of doing this the easier it will be to continue doing it. Don’t take it for granted. It requires active participation.
Regardless of how long or short life is I am pretty sure I have more behind me than I have in front of me. It should make the life in front of me that much more precious. I am trying to live it like it IS more precious. I am not as willing to wait for something to work out. I may not have the time patience implies, or laziness requires, or breaking bad habits takes. Who knows, tomorrow they may figure out how to make it last forever. In the meantime you have to assume you are going to die tomorrow, but will live forever. Makes scheduling a bitch. Any given day, if I get to see a pretty girl, I consider that gravy.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Get Some Perspective
The world is not the utopia we wish it would be. Indeed, right now, the world, taken as a whole, is a very nasty place. Politically, socially, economically, and in health issues there are bright spots; seeds from which, what we strive for, can grow. But, we cannot pretend that the bright spots are in a majority. We cannot pretend to enjoy the easy choices that go along with a more perfect world. To get from where we are, to where we want to be, where there are only easy choices, there is a journey we are going to have to take first. This journey will not succeed if we try to put the prize before the travail. It will not succeed if we believe everyone will only play by the rules. This journey is down a tough road and we must have the courage to face the obstacles and do what must be done to prevail.
We think of freedom as something that we have relative to our government, but in actuality, freedom can only be had when any political or socio-economic machine does not crush us under its oppression, when no group’s hate deprives any of us of our happiness. When no hate exists; when we have abolished it and have brought the world together as a single community; when we join a bigger perspective and become The Residents of Planet Earth, then we will be free..
So ARE we moving towards a utopia where everyone is enlightened and loving of our diverse neighbors, or are we actually becoming more callused? The world is getting smaller, and it seems that smaller is not better. The world does not awe us as much as it used to. What made using a nuclear device against people so abhorrent? We saw how devastating it was. We saw that doing such a monumentally destructive thing made us, as a civilized people, uncomfortable. And we realized that it would end in us destroying ourselves. Now we fear terrorists or terrorist nations might use them, or bio-weapons, with impunity. Much worse than that, they do it in the name of God. Heaven is supposed to be a reward. I don’t know about God, but if it were my Creation and you destroyed it, including my crowning achievement: mankind, I’d be pissed!
We think of freedom as something that we have relative to our government, but in actuality, freedom can only be had when any political or socio-economic machine does not crush us under its oppression, when no group’s hate deprives any of us of our happiness. When no hate exists; when we have abolished it and have brought the world together as a single community; when we join a bigger perspective and become The Residents of Planet Earth, then we will be free..
So ARE we moving towards a utopia where everyone is enlightened and loving of our diverse neighbors, or are we actually becoming more callused? The world is getting smaller, and it seems that smaller is not better. The world does not awe us as much as it used to. What made using a nuclear device against people so abhorrent? We saw how devastating it was. We saw that doing such a monumentally destructive thing made us, as a civilized people, uncomfortable. And we realized that it would end in us destroying ourselves. Now we fear terrorists or terrorist nations might use them, or bio-weapons, with impunity. Much worse than that, they do it in the name of God. Heaven is supposed to be a reward. I don’t know about God, but if it were my Creation and you destroyed it, including my crowning achievement: mankind, I’d be pissed!
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