Monday, October 22, 2007

How many people, do you suppose, blog on during something which will prove historically significant and miss the moment? I bet in the future when someone travels back in time to the hour when John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas they will be typing away about which blues artist was playing at a local pub and totally miss the asasination. We tend to get on over some detail that we find interesting. Like, for instance, it turns out that every personality who died tragically in the 1990's had said "fish" within fifteen minutes of their death. As more and more data is incorporated into online databases and more and more clever darlings are jacked in and think of pithy questions to ask the system it will be so interesting to see what comes out on the other side. Think about it, suppose you could ask the Akashic (sp) record to reveal the number of politicians who ran for public office in the first 2 decades of the 21st century who actually told the truth about their objectives and obligations and were honestly out to do good for the general public? What a bummer. Better to think your senator was really trying for you but couldn't get past 'the machine'.

The image is of an old mariner dragging his feet through the wet sand, pulling a laden net up past the tide line, dragging bits of wood, small jellyfish, kelp and sand along while the sea tries to drag it all back home in the deep. We try and haul and drag, and try again to get that cargo, that catch, back where we can use it to make our life something less than subsistence. In the end we get what we get, nothing more nor less. Isn't that so much like life in general? It would be great to think that if we had the phrase or tune or spell, we could make something great happen, something small like a life spared or a letter never delivered. But chances are things have their own momentum. This inertia of the universe is like a sleeping camel on the shifting sands of time. It's hooves dig in instinctively and the beast moves on, but without purpose and without guilt. For most folks, this is life.

But for a few, for a rare few, life is a race of doubts and gambles and hides and seeks. You move about the world thinking that you're doing pretty good and then something happens to you and it all goes on hold. Then you DO something to make it smoother, to make it do better, to make things happen. That's such a bad idea. People notice when you do something and then they get back at you, they DO things at you. They make you sad. Then you pop open a frosty can of Foster's and take a deep, long sip and suddenly it all makes sense. Yup, the idea is to catch a slight buzz from LIFE and not let it distract you from certain TRUTHS until the END, when it's all up to the rest of them anyway. And then you count your chips and decide what you're gonna do until the missus comes along. Usually this involves beer and watching people doing things they think are clever. That's a lot of fun. Not in a bad way, mind ya, no, it's just fun watching them try to pull it off. Then they move on and so do you. That's life.

I like to watch trees become earth, especially trees that I have climbed or touched in some way. Limbs fall, leaves slip and slide... bark becomes a radical element and falls away... then it's all dirt and you can plant tomatoes in it. Ah life, it tastes so good with a touch of lemon pepper or sea salt.