Musings of A Dumb Ass
In a little more than a week I will begin the 63rd year of my journey through whatever this earthly experence is. To make a statement like that would imply the writer believes there is something else to follow or that something else has already been. I don't propose either but I am troubled by the concept of infinity. We are an arrogant species and are beset with the idea that we truly are special and have some sort of relationship with a higher authority when in reality we simply are only arrogant and highly impressionable and beyond naive.
Only a very narrow thread separates us from the beasts whose only instinct is to survive another day carrying little or no memory from the day before and no plans for the morrow. This is demonstrated as a constant in human behaviour around the world as we grapple with each other for parity, which has never occured in the human existence with each other, and never will.
While we celebrate achievement and respect artistic ability the same sun that lights our day will shine on our brothers in kind who are assigned a very different existence and whose entire attention is focused on survival for the day at hand. In one place we revel at our ability to plan and enjoy and in another we will judge those trapped in the most hopeless of conditions as less than our equal and somehow responsible for their misery. Instead of simple help we will try to convert them to a way of thinking and living that fits with what makes us comfortable, and whoever we're helping must remain subserviant to us after the fact.
On the surface it might seem I view the world in a very negative way, but from my tree branch I am suspicious that only in old age am I able to see the world in the way it was and is, and the possibilities and likelihoods of where it may go and the wonders and miracles we will be able to watch as they unfold.
Meanwhile I must confess that life has been an incredible experience that I still look forward to all the while realizing that fulfillment of a thirty year mortgage is not likely and even a twenty year obligation is a shaky bet, I find myself with the oddest thoughts. Instead of being totally consumed with my good fortune and the memories of days that I packed in more living than some experience in a lifetime, at some point I will helplessly revert to thoughts of those who are killing and being killed and those who must face death because of their location on this earth or stuck in a miserable life that has no hope of improving and be reminded of the tiny thread that separates us from the beasts and realize that the beast still lives in us.
The greatest accomplishment to ones self is to experience life to the fullest. The greatest accomplishment for the future is to cause change in the positive and create hope for those with no hope. I've been both a success and a failure.
I also have become convinced that I'm a crazy sonofabitch that's glimpsed life as it was, is, and can be. A very smart individual once told me he thought the best way to describe our place in time was to equate us to an adolescent, and if we could survive as a species to adulthood we would be in a position to right all the wrongs. Until then, we'll act like children. Too bad I won't be around long enough to see if he's right. But I can hope..... that is the saving grace of being a member of humanity
Only a very narrow thread separates us from the beasts whose only instinct is to survive another day carrying little or no memory from the day before and no plans for the morrow. This is demonstrated as a constant in human behaviour around the world as we grapple with each other for parity, which has never occured in the human existence with each other, and never will.
While we celebrate achievement and respect artistic ability the same sun that lights our day will shine on our brothers in kind who are assigned a very different existence and whose entire attention is focused on survival for the day at hand. In one place we revel at our ability to plan and enjoy and in another we will judge those trapped in the most hopeless of conditions as less than our equal and somehow responsible for their misery. Instead of simple help we will try to convert them to a way of thinking and living that fits with what makes us comfortable, and whoever we're helping must remain subserviant to us after the fact.
On the surface it might seem I view the world in a very negative way, but from my tree branch I am suspicious that only in old age am I able to see the world in the way it was and is, and the possibilities and likelihoods of where it may go and the wonders and miracles we will be able to watch as they unfold.
Meanwhile I must confess that life has been an incredible experience that I still look forward to all the while realizing that fulfillment of a thirty year mortgage is not likely and even a twenty year obligation is a shaky bet, I find myself with the oddest thoughts. Instead of being totally consumed with my good fortune and the memories of days that I packed in more living than some experience in a lifetime, at some point I will helplessly revert to thoughts of those who are killing and being killed and those who must face death because of their location on this earth or stuck in a miserable life that has no hope of improving and be reminded of the tiny thread that separates us from the beasts and realize that the beast still lives in us.
The greatest accomplishment to ones self is to experience life to the fullest. The greatest accomplishment for the future is to cause change in the positive and create hope for those with no hope. I've been both a success and a failure.
I also have become convinced that I'm a crazy sonofabitch that's glimpsed life as it was, is, and can be. A very smart individual once told me he thought the best way to describe our place in time was to equate us to an adolescent, and if we could survive as a species to adulthood we would be in a position to right all the wrongs. Until then, we'll act like children. Too bad I won't be around long enough to see if he's right. But I can hope..... that is the saving grace of being a member of humanity
posted by Bo at 11:58 PM
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