Celebrating Independence...

[xel_otath]

There's no better way to remember Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum fighting off the alien mothership than with explosives, liquor, two parties, some Ur-Quan Masters*, and being sweet on the woman you love. In all seriousness, independence may be an illusion or whatever, but either as free beings or as controlled masses, we've got it pretty good here. Of course that all comes at the expense of people elsewhere in the world where the getting isn't pretty good. I don't know anything about changing the world, but what I do know is that if I come to a point in my life where I have the ability to, I am going to reach that point by being all I can be for those I love in the present every step of the way. I think was Plato quoting Socrates when he wrote that the unexamined life is not worth living. There is merit to this idea, but for all its eloquence and challenge, it misses the simplicity of the true mortal imperative: the unlived life is not worth living. The poetry and call for mental masturbation is removed from the statement, and injected into it is the purity of the infinitive "to live." If we truly engage ourselves in that verb, examination seems a rather mundane task to dedicate ourselves towards.

*Note to all gamers: DOWNLOAD THIS NOW SO WE CAN BATTLE!!!!!! There's even an OS X version - Lyssa I'm looking in your direction. It's free and kick ass, though it takes a while to download despite it's simplicity and oldness because the folks distributing it require it to be installed remotely. I'm not sure if that applies to the OS X version too since I've never used that one. Just make sure you check the box at the bottom when it's asking what to install.