Book of RULES?

The UNEXAMINED Life

It is basic philosophical dogma that “The unexamined life is not worth living.” In keeping with this “truism” I have examined and reexamined my life in many ways.  Since we do not have any “do-overs” in our existence, we cannot go back the way writers of textbooks do and reinvent the past.  We can however alter our present and future if we wish to do it.  Our direction need not have any relationship to our past since “the wake does not propel the boat.”  We get to decide “Quo Vadis,” where we are going. There is such a thing as examining too much and living too little so be careful of that trap...also known as "stinking of Zen".  

Of course there are things holding us back, most of which are imaginary. Some have referred to this as our internal book of rules, picked up over time living in society. we are enculturated by our tribe. We then become self-restricted based upon this indoctrination….what else can you call it when it is drilled into you? If we go against the rules our internal judge punishes us somehow.  Or we can discard the rule-book entirely.  This is difficult yes, but not impossible. Many modern day sages, aka self-help authors, suggest a computer metaphor…”Delete the old program and install a new one” based upon where our hopes and dreams lead us.  

I believe that the premise that very few of us are living the lives we had hoped for as children is valid.  At no time did I envision working indoors as a doctor, all hours of the day and night, usually in a windowless room, not to mention the icky parts.  Other people might say “I never dreamed that I would be outdoors with a shovel at a construction site in the middle of winter.”  Only those who are in music, entertainment, the arts, and professional sports are "probably" living their dream, but then I am none of those so I am sure there are some who can’t stand going on stage or the playing field one more time.  The pervasive drug culture in those careers may be the result of their discontent.  Anyway, we can dream that there must have been a better road that we could have selected.  Lawyers wish they were doctors, doctors wish they are venture capitalists, etc. Fireman and cowboy, favorites of children everywhere, never enticed me.  I do think it would have been cool to be Jacques Costeau or Eugenie Clark, or, Robinson Crusoe, even though he was fictional.  Most of us understood that super-heroes were not real, even though there was this “one guy” who jumped off his garage roof wearing a sheet as a cape and broke his leg.  

Being Kwai Chang Kaine always intrigued me, right up to when David Carradine apparently died in an auto-erotic asphyxiation mishap indicating that the Kung Fu guy was probably just an acting part in a TV series. Well. at least I never wanted to be A-Rod or Dennis Rodman.   

PULL vs RIDE

We are born alone with nothing and leave the world the same way.  It is possible that there is an afterlife, but nothing scientific to prove it. No one has come back like Columbus to report on a New World out there. The tales of light and tunnels, and meeting dead relatives are not scientific evidence.  Which leaves us with “This is not a dress rehearsal” it is our one and only life.  Do we spend it the way we want or do we subordinate our seeking of pleasure (the prime directive of homo sapiens) to some civilization-constructed set of rules, obligations, moral standards, and the concept of altruism; the needs of others or the collective are more important than my own? Are we individuals or are we members of a hive like bees and ants?  Do we accept the biological imperative of the species, increase and multiply, and when you no longer can, you are expendable? Lots of questions...

Religion and politics might be for people who can’t think for themselves.  The number of folks who not only can’t think but can’t DO is rising geometrically.  The huge number of unemployment and food stamp recipients and the “entitlement” programs sprouting like mushrooms attest to this. Not long ago, self-reliance was core to the American character.  Now, it is reliance on the government, so we can go back to watching “Dancing with the Stars,” or “Monday Night Football.”  On the other hand, those who are not paying attention to the direction of our country and only caring about what’s in it for them, may well be following the previously mentioned prime directive…it’s all about their pursuit of pleasure and an apparent easy life.  The people who work for a living are being outnumbered by people who VOTE for a living.  Maybe they are right, at least in the short term, and caring about the American way of life, is just another form of altruism and hive behavior. 

Perhaps we members of the older generation and the one before us, who made our world safe for this one by fighting and dying in the last justifiable war…WW2, and who invented everything that young people take for granted today, can learn from the young and spend our lives neither worrying about the economy, nor knowing anything about how our government works.  We can “turn on, tune in, and drop out” as Tim Leary suggested.  If things go to Hell, we’ll be OK with our Social Security, Medicare, and AARP. It’s the next generation, the one that hasn’t invented anything I can think of but Facebook and Twitter, that will have to do without those things they have grown entitled to. Let them attempt to support the government programs and agendas they care about so much with income from the best jobs they can get considering they did not graduate from high school, or at least did not learn anything there. Thank you, Teacher's Union.

In a last ditch effort to not have to do anything for themselves like “get anything out of their education” or show up at a job, or think twice about their lifestyle choices so they don’t get type-2 diabetes, they may well demand that their fearless leaders pass one more tax on the wealthy just to be FAIR.  A tax on the net worth of the previous generation in addition to the confiscatory 55% Estate (death) Tax will put gas in the engine for a little while, but after that runs out, the country we know today will look like all those other 1^st world countries that are now 3^rd world in comparison to us…England, Spain, Italy (Rome), all of which Ruled the World and fell to nothing much. The people will look away momentarily from their flat-screen surround-sound 3D TVs and ask themselves…”What happened?”    In the meantime, don’t look for me to pull the wagon any more, I have jumped into the back and am busy watching “Dancing with the Stars.” Now where’s my remote?

  

MACHO JEEP

This started life as a JEEP Unlimited 4 door Wrangler.  Then the owner started flexing his creative muscles.  The entire body both interior and exterior including the Bushwacker fender flares has been coated with a thick matte finish bed liner material.  It is jacked up and has oversize tires and wheels.  The hard top is not factory but has a sloped rear.  I will not presume to analyze the particular choices of springs flares tire wheels etc...I would like to congratulate the owner for creating a custom Wrangler that gets as close to a Military Hum-Vee as any vehicle I have seen and I have my eye out for custom Jeeps.  This one is PRIMO.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

She may be, in my book, a phony-baloney, and I  disagree with almost everything she has said since 1984, but there is truth to her quote, and the title of this book..."It takes a village"  I don't buy into the governmental definition of "We know how to raise your children better than you do." but I do firmly believe that there are more people involved in raising children than their parents.  Of course we turn them over to school teachers readily where they get "our culture's lessons" for 12 or more years.  Then there's the church of your choice. The list is endless.  Somewhere in that mix, particularly when you study cultures where longevity is significantly better than average, the siblings, uncles and aunts, grandparents and even the great grandparents play a significant role in teaching and caring for the young, unless we stifle the natural order of things in the interest of some social science experiment, like Dr. Spock.

In  21st Century America, we "elders" of the tribe are relegated to the trash heap pretty early.  Fortunately, among the benefits of immigration from Latin America, along with "they do work our own people wont do", the delicious cuisine and great music, and Sofia Vergara, are the family traditions that they bring with them. Very similar to the old traditions of the Italians and Irish who have come here before them, they believe that "it takes a village" in the real sense. I know people who are so thankful to their grandmothers for helping them in life, that they honor them by naming their children after them.  

I recently wrote a blog post entitled "I resign as General manager of the Universe."  Perhaps I should clarify that in light of several comments I have received in response to that post, more comments in fact, than I usually receive.  They range from "I refuse to accept your resignation." to ""You are the patriarch, and you don't have the option of not giving your opinions to your family, it is your duty." I asked "What if my near and dear don't agree with me?"  The reply was "Just because they don't want to hear what you have to say on a particular issue, or disagree, is no reason not to say what you believe, and say it with the force of parental and seasoned wisdom."

As for resigning as GM of the U, perhaps that resignation would be best confined to matters of politics and religion.  But then again, in those things, my opinions are as good as anyone else's.  If it's a career for Ariana Huffington why must I defer to her or anyone else when I feel strongly about an issue?  Come to think of it, "I withdraw my resignation." Phew! I guess I can keep expressing my opinions in this blog now without feeling guilty.

RESIGNING as General Manager of the UNIVERSE

As I look back at my 3 score and 10 years that I have spent on the third rock from the Sun, I reflect upon the opinions I have had, the decisions I have made, and the things, with the best of intentions, I tried to teach to others. My track record would be great if it were a batting average in baseball, but abysmal if it were a survival rate in cardiac surgery.  Retrospectively, I have been wrong more often than I have been right.  Now that I am the old wise man in my family, I mistakenly believe that this will somehow raise my success rate.  Au contraire.  It probably renders my opinions irrelevant to the young whose world is so different from the one I grew up in.  Who am I to stand in judgement of an army of young people who think that gay marriage is a necessity, "Change" of any kind is good, and no problem exists that can't be cured with the right government program, and if that doesn't work, spend more money we don't have.

I have my beliefs about these things and others as well.  In my dreams I would want all creation to follow my advice.  In actuality, that would not make sense. At least a third of my recommendations would not work at all, and another third would probably make things worse.  At best I would bat .333. ARod would be proud, Michael Debakey, MD, would be sued.   So, in keeping with that, and the realization, which since it comes from my mind could in itself be wrong, that I don't know as much as I think, I am tendering my resignation, effective immediately, as General Manager of the Universe.

Any opinions expressed do not represent those of the staff, management, or shareholders of IslandOracle and all resemblance to any persons living or dead is purely coincidental.    copywrong MMXIII