We Live In Interesting Times Indeed
Proof #1:
I had seen my doctor on Monday, and he wanted some tests done. This morning, I went to the clinic to give a blood sample. I held the door open for an older lady entering in front of me. The waiting room was quite full already, so she took her time placing her packages down, taking her coat off, digging out her glasses, etc. I went straight to the counter, took #2 from the "next" box, and sat down. Once she was all arranged, she went to the desk, and got #4; obviously someone else having come in after us. When she re-claimed her seat, I went over to exchange numbers with her, and she refused. She hung onto her number like a starving lioness scraping the last tendrils of dried-up muscle from a long-dead carcass. I didn't understand, but shrugged my shoulders, somewhat embarrassed by the bemused looks of others in the room, kept my #2, slunk back to my own seat, but still felt guilty somehow. I shouldn't have, I know, but I did.
Proof #2:
Apparently nowadays you can go to jail if you raise any questions, legitimate or non-sensical, about the historical representation and autenticity of the holocaust. You can start international riots causing multiple deaths, create reparation expenses in the untold millions or billions of dollars worth of material damage, and draw who knows how much deeper the existing rifts of hatred and mistrust between peoples, races and religions with the single stroke of a cartoonist's pencil for making an apparently forbidden image of Mohammed. This, in spite of there being a centuries-long trail of such images, and a reasoned explanation by the editor of the Danish newspaper who first decided to publish them.
BUT, it's perfectly okay to sue the author of a book (The daVinci Code) which just happens to sell over 40 million copies and has lucrative movie rights sewn up, suggesting that the virgin birth wasn't, and Jesus and Mary had a thing going on. The lawsuit isn't for sacrilege or blasphemy, though, but for plagarism! I think I need to look up the meaning of the word 'secular' again. Oh, here it is. "Secular: def-n: Of, or pertaining to greed. See also, lawyer."
Am I missing something here?
Proof #3:
On my way home from giving the blood test, I popped into the grocery store, and bought two items: Parmesan cheese, and a cheese grater. I chuckled to myself on the way home wondering what the clerk must have been thinking as she rang the items through. See, the other night I made spaghetti, and I had no Parmesan cheese, only a block of hard marble cheese. I couldn't find my grater.
My life, is a matter of, and defined by, the other person's perspective.
Stealing a quote by Chris Rock that I found on another blogger's page the other day:
"You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, The Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in the U.S. are named Bush, Dick, and Colon. Need I say more?"
I'm going back to read more of Jay's book and see if it'll help me make sense of any of this! Right now my head feels like exploding with absurdities.
Today's peace link will take you to visit the home of Greenpeace International. 
I'm feeling like the city kid making his first visit to his cousin's farm, and seeing the big pile of manure out behind the barn, immediately rushes over to it, and starts digging through it with his bare hands. His cousin comes over and asks him what the hell he's doing. He says, "There's gotta be a pony in here somewhere!" Somewhere out there, or in here, there's gotta be the answer, or parts of it. I feel like that lady this morning. I need something to hang on to. Something to give me sustenance. Something to mark my place. Something no one can take from me. maybe I do understand her, after all.
PEACE.
I get a kick out of that Chris Rock quote too, but I must say, I don't see that the world is any more at odds with itself than ever before.
I mean, while people in Canada were happily opening doors for old ladies a generation ago, just down south of the border there were race riots going on.
And I can't remember EVER learning about a time in history when there was religious tolerance. It's happened for brief moments in specific places, but history is basically the story of attacking people who are different, for whatever reason.
I'm not a cynic. Actually I'm a pretty happy person who spends a fair amount of time cheerfully trying to make the world better.
But I do believe that expectation is the leading cause of disappointment. If I'm disappointed by the world, I must have had high expectations. The more I read about history, the less justification I can find to have such expectations at all!
Not that all is dark; on the contrary, without expectations, every work of beauty is an act of faith, and every wee advance in humanity is a miracle indeed.
Posted by
David Newland |
3:35 p.m.
I get your point, but I'm still going to wallow in, dig through, and prod at my pile of manure in search of my pony. I'm doing this because I know full well that, even if in the end I never even find its bones, the shit I disturb can always be used to nourish plants, weed, oak and fruit trees. The pony, perhaps, is more motivation than expectation!
I think perhaps my next blog might tell the story of the oak tree I wanted to tell a few days ago.
Posted by
Evydense |
7:29 p.m.
"I do believe that expectation is the leading cause of disappointment. If I'm disappointed by the world, I must have had high expectations." I would put it differently. "If I'm disappointed by the world, I must have had unconventional expectations." The world is made for conventional people who seek conventional answers and ask conventional questions. Woe betide anyone who marches out of step.
Posted by
My Daily Struggles |
10:59 a.m.
Gary:
Thanks for the alternate point of view, and I accept and understand it as well. Dave certainly doesn't need me coming to his defense (in fact, it might pee him off a tad if he perceives it that way!), but I know him personally very well. If anyone is 'unconventional', he certainly fits comfortably within the description!!
Posted by
Evydense |
4:09 p.m.
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