Adversity

I can't believe how much we bitch about things. This nation is only a couple hundred years old. We forget that sometimes, I think. Two-hundred years ago, a trip from New York to Los Angeles took a couple of years. Six people would leave, and nine would arrive, a couple of those as infants. Now, it takes a few hours. I can't remember the comedian that said this, but he told a story about how he was sitting in a plane,flying from L.A. to New York and he was sitting next to someone who was complaing about the wireless Internet connection not working. YOU ARE SITTING IN A CHAIR....IN THE SKY! For fuck sake, stop complaining. Same thing with cell phones. If there is no instant gratification, IE, your message doesn't go through right away, just wait. It's going to space, for the love of God, give it a minute. We have indoor plumbing. People used to shit in a hole and used plants to clean up as best they could. People used to get syphillus and die (or any other simple bacteria strains for that matter). Now we can cure these things with a simple dose or 5 of antibiotics. So, stop with the whining already.

I think as a society, we are in the phase of "what's in it for me." I know this is not news. We have been here for some time. We are sue happy. Stick it to anyone you can, as long as it isn't me. We are surprised when we get stuck. WHY MEEEEEEEE? Karma, that's why. Help your fellow man. Do things for others instead of yourself. Give, freely, of your time and energy. It will be repaid. Eventually, when its time. Maybe not YOUR time, but IN time it will be. Patience. Find it, have it, hold onto it, and then teach it. Pay it forward. It might happen to you some day, or it might not. However, it isn't a requirement that it is repaid. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it any way. STOP BEING SELFISH! Service for others. Isn't that why we are here anyway?

If you don't like something, change it. People seem so shocked with being in a rut. Shift your thinking. Move, wobble, change the momentum, both of where you are going and how you get there. Surprisingly enough, you will get where you want to be. But repeating something in the hopes the outcome will be different defines insanity, does it not? I think there is enough crazy in the world. There is also too much whining about not having, not being able to, wishing and hoping that one day....what? We all say these things, think these things and wonder how someone else got where they are. Persistence. Two mice fall into a vat of cream. One mouse stopped trying to get out and quickly drowned. The other mouse kept fighting and, sure enough, climbed out of the butter to safety (Catch Me If You Can reference) Never give up. Never stop trying to be better. The world will eat you alive. You are owed nothing. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. How will you spend yours?

The consequences faced by many are a direct result from choices made. Choices are a constant. I don't like teeter totters. I never have. Up and down, up and down, a lot like the swings in life. Living for tomorrow, or living for yesterday. Choose. Pick one and stick with it, but don't tell me "I remember when." I don't think Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the Sioux, South Africa, Germany, Poland or NASA like to live in the past. Move on, move forward. Life is best viewed through the windshield, not the rear view mirror. It's OK to visit where you have been, but live for where you are going. Learn, adapt, overcome.

God brings men into deep waters, not to drown them, but to cleanse them. ~John Aughey