P U R P O S E

I read a lot about the meaning of life, including things written by Wayne Dyer, Dan Millman, and Deepak Chopra. Their books have titles like "The 4 Purposes of Life," "Purpose Driven Life" and invariably, after a long rigamarole over how to decide what your true purpose is, it boils down to service to others. Every author seems to skip over the unrewarding nature of trying to help those who will not help themselves whether they are the drug and alcohol addled, the willfully ignorant, or the chronically unhealthy who make all the wrong lifestyle choices. Ask any doctor who has spent 40 years with a stethoscope draped around his neck.

Today I had a long discussion with my good friend about "calling" and I do not mean as in the 4 calling birds of 12 days of Christmas but rather what you are put on this earth to do which resonates with your inner self. It may or may not be the same as your career. You are lucky if it is. My career was something I was good at but never liked. I did it because my parents gave me no other "real" choice. Fortunately it was objectively a good decision economically and socially, but it CUT OFF all other options educationally, very early in life. Pre-med leaves very little opportunity at course selection time for art and music. I would have loved to have been an artist or musician but would probably have starved. Almost no medical doctors are poor or striving. Very few musicians make it to the big time. Medical career... a good decision...but not my calling.

So now I read books about purpose and calling and the real meaning of life. I have my chance, though late, to find my true calling and my passion for getting up in the morning. I may even have decades to pursue it, one never knows. The next time you see me I may be on stage, Stratocaster guitar in hand, performing "Play That Funky Music, White Boy" to an audience of 4 drunks in a roadhouse just outside of Myakka City.