not all who wander are lost
As you can tell, I’ve made some changes to the site layout, moving my blog to a secondary page and adding a welcome page. I felt like it was time for a change.
The funny thing about change - we avoid it when we are complacent and we seek it out when we’re unhappy. For me, I just felt like I had lost my focus. All this technology in my life makes me feel like a different person that I had always thought I was.
But, are we ever who we think we are?
This went around in email many years back - attributed to (the now late) George Carlin. I don’t know if it was really his words or not, but it’s poignant none the less.
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less. We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life; we’ve added years to life, not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We’ve conquered outer space, but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things. We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships. These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition. These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes.
These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw–away morality, one–night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet to kill. It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom; a time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.
Last night I received a strange email from my friend Dom asking for a call back asap. It was an odd email coming from him. The mood was frantic and not at all in his usual style. So, even though it was after 10pm, I felt the need to call and make sure everything was okay.
Sadly, everything was not okay. A mutual friend of ours had been found dead on a beach. I was shocked and saddened. We had all just played music together exactly 2 weeks ago on a beach here in my hometown (which now seems like an odd coincidence). We all had a great time and as we parted it was the usual “I’ll see you next time,” and we all went our separate ways.
And now there will be no next time.
I’m saddened for myself and for all those that called him a friend. I am also concerned for his family. His wife, his daughter and his son.
I can’t help remembering that last time we all saw each other and as we were breaking down and packing up, I spent some time talking with his son. He & his son were tight. Even at 15, his son was happy to spend time with his dad and come by to hear him play and hang with the “older” musicians.
It’s times like these that reinforce the importance of living in the moment. Despite all of our plans and desires we are not guaranteed a tomorrow. We only have the present…so take hold of it and get everything you can out of it.
Carpe diem!
We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from the machinations of the wicked.
I recently heard someone say “Art is never finished, just abandoned.”
I suppose that is true - though I had to ask myself how much harder it is to abandon that which was never begun.
We all go through the ups and downs of life. The ups are usually the easy parts. The downs, while difficult, are usually necessary to help us grow and learn.
I recently took a close look at one of those “down” periods of my life and something struck me. Sometimes our emotions get the better of us and even though we are right there, our perception of the reality that we are living is not always in tune with what is actually happening around us. Our emotions blind us and we fail to see things clearly. And worse even is the fact that when we fail to see things clearly we often mistake shadows for reality and react inappropriately because we are reacting to the illusions brought about by our own insecurities.
I am still trying to reconcile all of this, and make sense of those dark days. Still, I can’t help but wonder about other significant moments in my life. How sure can I be that my perception is anything more than an illusion born of my secret insecurities? Are the most difficult times in my life all brought about when I reacted to illusion instead of reality? Can we ever escape our own insecurities enough to experience pure reality?
I don’t really know the answers to these questions, but I suspect it all comes back to one simple tenet of life: no real growth can happen until we trust and respect ourselves by being honest with ourselves in all matters.
And one last question: when did life get so complicated? I thought we were supposed to get more answers as we grew older, not have to question all the answers we already had.