A politician.
Month: May 2017
Talk About Nothing
Nothing is final. Final is an absolute, a thing complete unto itself. The problem is we are short sighted and can’t see the end. The end doesn’t exist.
Let’s take the obvious one; Death. (insert scary music) What is it? How do we define it? It doesn’t matter. Death of one organic entity, plant, animal, person, alien or construct is not the end. At most I rate it as a stage f the sequence for cycling matter and energy. Mufasa only saw his link in the chain. We are all recycled again and again. Reprocessed molecules and modified energy states.
What about our “souls”? Describe it. Define it. If the soul exists and we are all going into the great bye and bye, isn’t that just the next step? For all we know, the Earth, this great, ever competing, cycling ball of mud is nothing more than a breeding ground for the next great space army in a never ending war. We just don’t know it yet, but the only cost effective way to grow a soul is organically, in a controlled environment. Harvest at death.
Next victim. Math? Why did we learn one plus one in school? Is it an end or the means to an end? New discoveries in science? Physics? Not final, just steps. Our star dying and eventually exploding? The hydrogen furnace is all used up and reducing to be food for black holes that will eventually collide and start a new universe.
Just because the music ends, doesn’t mean you don’t still hear the song.
Random Pink
Cotton candy at the summer fair. Strawberry ice cream. The tiny bow smile of my daughter. A little girl in her Easter dress. The tip of my kitten’s nose. The color cream turns when you let the berries sit long enough. The skin of a perfect peach. The lipstick that looked strange on your great aunt but looks hot on your girlfriend. Strawberry Now-n-Laters. Bazooka Joe bubble gum. The carnation you worn for the Prom. Victoria’s Secret Yoga pants. The hand print on your face for getting caught noticing the Yoga pants. Pepto after a long night you don’t quite remember. Is it really pink or do words fall short?
Pursue – you won’t catch it
Pursue \per-su\ verb – 1: To follow in order to overtake or overcome: CHASE 2: To seek to accomplish (a goal)
Merriam – Webster Dictionary, 2004
I don’t usually write to expand on a definition, preferring a unique memory or thought sparked by the prompt. I apologize in advance.
Now, pass me the soap box.
There is something lacking in the youth of today. I was going to say it is a lack of desire, but that is so far from accurate that it would discredit anything else I wrote. All they seem to have is desire. They want the six figure job without the effort of preparing for it or investing in preparation necessary to do the work. If they do invest, they complain about the cost as unfair. How do we expect them to grab the world by the tail if they are weighed down by debt?
Our grandparents thought we were all spoiled and never did a hard days work. By comparison, we didn’t. I worked on farms and did day labor jobs growing up. If I had been forced to work that hard for my entire life, I would have died years ago. I joined the Army because it paid better and was much easier. I also decided that I didn’t want to live in poverty. I needed a plan and to get off my ass and work.
I took me twenty years to get where I wanted to be, only to realize that it was the first step. While I was struggling to raise a family and get the job that allowed me the stability and freedom I wanted, I learned more. I wanted more. What about retirement? What legacy am I leaving my children? My grandchildren? (If I ever get any. Not that I’m pressuring you. Just wondering out loud.)
I’ve been chasing the American Dream. The house, car, golf on weekends or whenever I can sneak out, vacations. It’s hard work chasing a goal when it keeps changing. So, I’m living to define a definition, I am pursuing with intent, focused on a goal. I’ve followed a path that children of today aren’t willing to run. We taught them to desire, but failed to teach them to work. They want the reward without the investment. I used to worry that it was to late to fix the mistakes we made but I recognize it as a self-correcting issue. Once we are out of the picture, no one else is going to gift our children with their desires. It’s root pig or die time.
I’m just going to sit on the soap box, drink a beer and watch the show.
Thoughts in Passing: The 4 Laws
I have decided everything is just temporary. The universal state of entropy ensures us that exists is also fading away. What we call solid matter is simply an energy state that our senses can detect a specified way, in out current energy state. Everything living is also dying. Civilization grows like blowflies in a mason jar, only to collapse in our own waste.
That’s what is happening to our society today. For years we have help up this idea of raising everyone to an equal status. Not through expending their own energy, but by stealing (or taxing) others. This is the increase in entropy in society today. These misguided ideas are bleeding off energy from healthy, thriving groups and transferring it to other areas. The energy is not some mystical excess, but natural and essential to the well being of the donor group. It shortens both group lifespans.
I am trying to understand society and economy. The farther I reduce the models, the closer I come to imagining them as the 4 laws of physics. Zeroth Law says that if A and B balance with C, that A and B are also in balance. No energy needs to be transferred. First law says energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed. Moving energy from one point to another doesn’t create energy, only bleeds off some potential in movement. Second law, entropy either stays the same or grows. No matter what we do the decay of the past exists. There is no “Year Zero”. No reset to zero. The Third law says entropy approaches Nil when temperature approaches zero. Stop moving, stop growing and decay stops. Still doesn’t go away.
My model is nice and clean. No muss, no fuss. No people, either. Anyway, it’s all temporary. Wait a while and it will change.
It may just be survival
I thought of “Fruit Ninja”. Swipe your finger across the screen and slice a bunch of fruit in half. If you clear a screen, a fruit fact popped up. “Lemons have more sugar than strawberries”. Wow! The universes expands.
Then I remembered Survival School in the Army. Master Sergeant Squire telling a half starved class of us that, if it’s sweet, it’s probably safe to eat. There are a bunch of other tricks to find food that wont kill you. He told us to act like babies. Babies like sweet foods because they are usually safe to eat. When you’re starving, you will choke down just about anything, so act like a baby.
When we get older, out pallets expand. I enjoy a sharp IPA. Scotch, old, smokey and the color of strong tea is a special favorite of mine. Savories and spicy hot foods make me happy. I even eat Brussels Sprouts. Mom would be proud.
For now, what say we work on our survival skills and go get some ice cream. My treat.
It’s like a Diet
Any where you go, you can hear someone talk about this diet or the latest weight loss thing. Drives me nuts. When I worked as a personal trainer, I would tell my clients, they were on a diet. Insert blank look. “You haven’t given me one.” I never did. I’m good at lifting heavy things and teaching others to do the same. I am not a dietician. Whatever you cram into your pie hole everyday is your diet.
The same with your chosen lifestyle. What you choose to do everyday is your lifestyle, your choice. Who you spend time with, the work you do, couch sitting or mountain climbing. It’s just like your diet. You can plan it or let it happen to you.
It’s just the results that are different.
The New Word Wars 