for all that we take for granted.
I just had one of those moments. The ones where you are doing something entirely ordinary and you suddenly have a burst of thought that is totally unrelated to what you are doing. I picked up my King Richard's Faire mug full of chai and I suddenly realized that we take so many things for granted. As I sit here in a comfortable bed, sipping hot sweetened tea, I could be thousands of miles away, stranded on a beach where my house used to be. I could be fighting insurgents in a war that I don't believe in. I could be a muslim trying to get by day-to-day while others hurl obscenitie at me on a regular basis.
I remember a few years back, I took a vow of silence, just to better appreciate the english language. Admittedly, it did'nt last long, but I learned that communication is a very difficult task without vocalization. I also learned that you should'nt waste the time or the energy to say something unless it is worth saying. It's like screaming in the middle of the woods, even though there's no one around to hear you. Pretty useless, because the trees don't talk back. (We only wish they could.)
Jokingly, at the workplace, if I see someone not smiling I say, "smile! At least you don't have any limbs missing." The importance of a good chuckle is underrated in my opinion. Sometimes, in a magical moment, you could change someone's whole outlook for the better by showing them the lighter side of things. I believe that is the key to a meaningful exist. Forget monetary worth. Forget material possessions. Think spiritually for a moment.
People lie awake at night wrestling with demons. Why are we here? What's the purpose of it all? Some of you may reply 42, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. If you can go through your life interacting with someone and changing their outlook/attitude for the better then you have made a difference in someone's life. That's all you really need to know. Don't worry about bigger things. Just make a positive impact on someone and you will begin to feel better about yourself. And that person will also feel better than they were before. That's all there is to it.
Now I'm not saying that this is the penultimate goal in life. I'm a realist, so I have to also think about the practical side of things. We live in a country driven by capital. Having a job and keeping it is important. Having a place to hang your coat and lay down without the discomforts that Mother Natures throws at us is important as well. Just don't lose sight of the things that make us human. We laugh, we love, we cry, we hate, we live, we die. Let's try to make it as enjoyable as the universe will allow us to.
I remember a few years back, I took a vow of silence, just to better appreciate the english language. Admittedly, it did'nt last long, but I learned that communication is a very difficult task without vocalization. I also learned that you should'nt waste the time or the energy to say something unless it is worth saying. It's like screaming in the middle of the woods, even though there's no one around to hear you. Pretty useless, because the trees don't talk back. (We only wish they could.)
Jokingly, at the workplace, if I see someone not smiling I say, "smile! At least you don't have any limbs missing." The importance of a good chuckle is underrated in my opinion. Sometimes, in a magical moment, you could change someone's whole outlook for the better by showing them the lighter side of things. I believe that is the key to a meaningful exist. Forget monetary worth. Forget material possessions. Think spiritually for a moment.
People lie awake at night wrestling with demons. Why are we here? What's the purpose of it all? Some of you may reply 42, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. If you can go through your life interacting with someone and changing their outlook/attitude for the better then you have made a difference in someone's life. That's all you really need to know. Don't worry about bigger things. Just make a positive impact on someone and you will begin to feel better about yourself. And that person will also feel better than they were before. That's all there is to it.
Now I'm not saying that this is the penultimate goal in life. I'm a realist, so I have to also think about the practical side of things. We live in a country driven by capital. Having a job and keeping it is important. Having a place to hang your coat and lay down without the discomforts that Mother Natures throws at us is important as well. Just don't lose sight of the things that make us human. We laugh, we love, we cry, we hate, we live, we die. Let's try to make it as enjoyable as the universe will allow us to.