Grandma Eve
It seems that all they ever do is clean. For some reason keeping up with the dishes and the laundry is of the utmost importance…possibly purely because that was what they were told by their mothers. It seems that the coveted motherly advice can be traced all the way back to Eve herself. Eve, who, according to the bible, is responsible for cursing all women with birthing pains and menstrual cycles. What did Eve know?
Mamaw comes to visit and spends the entire time glued to the handle of the vacuum cleaner. She squirts and scrubs and dusts and then complains about how much her “durn” back hurts. And she’s miserable. And that’s because she was born into a poor family with lots of kids and a great love of booze. But it seems to me that at some point in your life you are faced with the option of either being happy, or being unhappy. Yes, you have that much control over your feelings. You can wake up in the morning and simply DECIDE that it is going to be a good day. It’s a state of mind, not a coin toss.
And for the sake of simplicity, let me take the time to say that we do not have control over EVERYTHING. My point is that we have control over MORE things than we think that we do.
I do not believe that when we are born, “God” has some sort of master plan laid out for us. I do not believe in fate. I believe that the only person that has any control over how we are and what we do, is ourselves. Believe it or not, we actually have a say in how our life turns out. I hate the phrase, “Sometimes things just happen for a reason.” Things don’t happen for a reason, things just happen.
I am concerned about how well I will do at Middle College High School (yes, I got in!). But I have promptly decided that sitting back and worrying about how well I’ll do is absolutely stupid, because I have complete and total control over how well I’ll do, and I will do just fine.
I listen to people cry about how they keep begging and praying and hoping that they will “find strength” and “find courage” and other such whimsical…things…and I want to shake them and say, “Stop hoping and praying and shit, and actually TRY!” As Oprah so eloquently put it, “You can’t sit back and wait for a burning bush. You can’t just wait for God to fix everything, because He won’t. You have to fix it yourself.” Oprah also believes that God works through people. I don’t really believe in God, so I disagree. I don’t think its God that “helps us find strength”, I think we find it all on our own. I may not believe in a higher power, but I most defiantly believe in people.
Literally EVERYONE us capable of getting good grades, or pushing through particularly murky situations, or learning to be comfortable and content, or beating an eating disorder. And let me, once again, acknowledge the fact that I do not think that EVERYTHING is a choice. People don’t choose to be alcoholics, people don’t choose to be gay or straight or bi, and people don’t choose who their parents are.
But people can choose to be stupid, or they can choose to be smart. People can choose to be mean, or can choose to be kind. People can choose to be good at something, or choose to be bad at something (“Dr. Suzuki says never be lazy, just practice, and practice, and practice like crazy…”).
This is one of those revelations that makes me feel like and unoriginal sap, but I felt like sharing anyway.
Mamaw comes to visit and spends the entire time glued to the handle of the vacuum cleaner. She squirts and scrubs and dusts and then complains about how much her “durn” back hurts. And she’s miserable. And that’s because she was born into a poor family with lots of kids and a great love of booze. But it seems to me that at some point in your life you are faced with the option of either being happy, or being unhappy. Yes, you have that much control over your feelings. You can wake up in the morning and simply DECIDE that it is going to be a good day. It’s a state of mind, not a coin toss.
And for the sake of simplicity, let me take the time to say that we do not have control over EVERYTHING. My point is that we have control over MORE things than we think that we do.
I do not believe that when we are born, “God” has some sort of master plan laid out for us. I do not believe in fate. I believe that the only person that has any control over how we are and what we do, is ourselves. Believe it or not, we actually have a say in how our life turns out. I hate the phrase, “Sometimes things just happen for a reason.” Things don’t happen for a reason, things just happen.
I am concerned about how well I will do at Middle College High School (yes, I got in!). But I have promptly decided that sitting back and worrying about how well I’ll do is absolutely stupid, because I have complete and total control over how well I’ll do, and I will do just fine.
I listen to people cry about how they keep begging and praying and hoping that they will “find strength” and “find courage” and other such whimsical…things…and I want to shake them and say, “Stop hoping and praying and shit, and actually TRY!” As Oprah so eloquently put it, “You can’t sit back and wait for a burning bush. You can’t just wait for God to fix everything, because He won’t. You have to fix it yourself.” Oprah also believes that God works through people. I don’t really believe in God, so I disagree. I don’t think its God that “helps us find strength”, I think we find it all on our own. I may not believe in a higher power, but I most defiantly believe in people.
Literally EVERYONE us capable of getting good grades, or pushing through particularly murky situations, or learning to be comfortable and content, or beating an eating disorder. And let me, once again, acknowledge the fact that I do not think that EVERYTHING is a choice. People don’t choose to be alcoholics, people don’t choose to be gay or straight or bi, and people don’t choose who their parents are.
But people can choose to be stupid, or they can choose to be smart. People can choose to be mean, or can choose to be kind. People can choose to be good at something, or choose to be bad at something (“Dr. Suzuki says never be lazy, just practice, and practice, and practice like crazy…”).
This is one of those revelations that makes me feel like and unoriginal sap, but I felt like sharing anyway.